Two regions of Chile strengthen their climate change strategy

The regions of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica and Antofagasta have begun the process of drawing up their Regional Climate Change Action Plans (PARCC). They have done so with two events held in Punta Arenas and Antofagasta, with the participation of the Minister of Environment, Maisa Rojas, and the main local authorities and institutions, represented in the Regional Climate Change Commissions (CORECC).

The PARCCs, which will be elaborated in the framework of the support provided to Chile by the EUROCLIMA programme, are strategies included in the Chilean Framework Law on Climate Change, and establish the measures and actions that the territories will deploy for their adaptation and resilience to climate change.

The basis of these regions’ strategies will be the development of green hydrogen, an essential fuel for the decarbonisation of the economy and the achievement of carbon neutrality by 2050, a goal set out in the Framework Law on Climate Change. In these plans, green hydrogen will not only be considered as a tool for sustainable transformation, but also as a driver of local development and economy.

This was explained by the governors of both regions, Jorge Files (Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica region) and Ricardo Díaz (Antofagasta region), who stressed the importance of climate action in the territories. “Last year Magallanes declared a climate emergency and today we have a national policy in the field of climate change. For this reason, we wanted to work together to be able to have all the diagnoses,” explained Files.  For his part, Díaz stressed that “climate action is a challenge of change for everyone. In this, the regions are fundamental, as policies to tackle the consequences of climate change must necessarily be bottom-up”.

Minister Maisa Rojas also stressed that the implementation of the Framework Law on Climate Change will be fundamental to fulfil the commitment to be “the first green government in the history of Chile, which means building a new development model, where the focus of investments shifts towards inclusive and ecologically sustainable development, with the focus on people, their human rights and ecosystems”.

The Ambassador of the European Union in Chile, León de la Torre, said that “the development of the PARCCs seeks to give continuity to the successful and fruitful cooperation on climate issues that the European Union has maintained with Chile in recent years, with the close support of the EUROCLIMA programme”. He added that “to this end, the design of climate measures and actions appropriate to the regional reality will be supported, prioritising those that allow the sustainable development of the green hydrogen industry”.

The events were also attended by the Undersecretary of Environment, Maximiliano Proaño; the Regional Presidential Delegate in Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica, Luz Bermúdez; the Regional Ministerial Secretaries (SEREMIS) of Environment and Energy in Magallanes and Antofagasta, Daniela Droguett, María Luisa Ojeda, Gustavo Riveros and Dafne Pino, and representatives of GIZ and FIIAPP on behalf of the EUROCLIMA programme.