Chile, the host of the next UN climate talks, announced its ambition to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Such a feat will require one of the fastest coal shutdowns anywhere! The country plans to expand its reliance on solar power as it transitions away from coal.
To begin with, president Sebastian Piñera pledged to close eight of the country’s 28 coal-fired plants by 2024. Just this first step will slash the share of coal within the electricity grid from 40% to 20% in five years. The ultimate goal is to completely phase out the fuel by 2040, which is just two years slower than a target set by a government commission in considerably more wealthy Germany.
Niklas Höhne, a climatologist with the New Climate Institute, hailed the plan as a “prime example of the fast and urgent action that is necessary right now.” He said: “To our knowledge, there is no other country in the world with such a high share of coal that has set a faster decarbonisation plan for the next five years.”
Under the Paris Agreement, the country promised to cut the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% (of 2007 levels) by 2030. “We are going to deliver this pledge,” Piñera said. “The steps that we are announcing are the concrete and real way we will turn words and pledges into facts and reality.” Piñera also noted in his annual address to the nation that the country is one of the ten most vulnerable nations to climate change even though it represents a mere 0.25% of global emissions.
When Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro abruptly withdrew its invitation to host the annual climate UN talks, Chile gladly volunteered. Since then, the country has been in a race to green itself in a bid to lead by example. For instance, Santiago de Chile now boasts 200 electric buses, the second largest fleet in the developing world after China. That’s only 100 less than America!
Monica Araya, a former Costa Rican climate negotiator and advisor on Latin American climate policy, told Climate Home News:
Because of the UN climate talks, also known as Conference of the Parties (COP), Chile has gone from a strikingly unambitious climate pledge to championing solar, having the largest fleet of electric buses and now saying ‘we’re going to have a decarbonization plan by 2050’, which is what the Paris Agreement wants countries to do.
The plan is “definitely feasible,” Höhne said, “with electricity costs from renewable energy in Chile ranking among the cheapest in the world.” For example, Spanish firm Tecnologica won an auction for a 120 megawatts solar power plant at the cost of $29.10 per megawatt-hour, making it the cheapest unsubsidized power in the world. “For Chile, the low-cost option is to go in that direction,” Höhne said.
While many are calling Chile’s plans ambitious, Félix González, president of the green party, is not impressed. He does not think the plan to shut down coal plants by 2040 is good enough and says it is “undignified.” He said: “Two decades more of pollution with heavy metals. We need to continue to mobilize because we need to close them now!”
