3. Mitigation measures, actions and policies

a. GHG Mitigation measures

Following the proposals made by the Ministry of the Environment in its recent Biennial Reports to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Two groups of public institutions have to report on their mitigation measures and actions:

• Sectoral mitigation authorities that must comply with emissions budgets and defined mitigation efforts, in accordance with the Climate Change Framework Law and the Long-Term Climate Strategy (Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications, Ministry of Mining, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning).
• Public institutions that, although they do not have obligations in terms of emissions budgets or mitigation efforts, due to the importance for achieving mitigation objectives at the country level, they have been invited to report their progress in the implementation of measures (Office of Legislative Implementation and Circular Economy and Ozone Unit of the Climate Change Division, both from the Ministry of the Environment; CORFO; the Ministry of Social Development and Family; the Ministry of National Assets).

Under the provisions of the Climate Change Framework Law, such ministries have the obligation to prepare Sectoral Climate Change Mitigation Plans, in which they must establish a set of actions and measures to reduce or absorb greenhouse gases, so as not to exceed the sectoral emissions budget assigned to each sectoral authority in the Long-Term Climate Strategy. These plans must detail the implementation deadlines, assignment of responsibilities and monitoring, reporting and verification indicators, which must be established by Supreme Decree.

The Climate Change Framework Law states that sectoral mitigation plans must be prepared and/ or updated within a period of two years. The plans are currently being developed and are expected to be approved by December 2024.

Progress in mitigation measures and actions reported for the country's First Biennial Transparency Report that will be presented to the UNFCCC

1. Policies, measures and mitigation actions at the national level reported for the First Biennial Transparency Report

Below there is a summary of the progress of the sectoral authorities in relation to the implementation of mitigation measures in the case of the Ministries of Energy, Transportation and Telecommunications and Mining. In the case of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Public Works and Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, it is reported actions or means of implementation in force. The details on mitigation measures and actions of the seven sectoral authorities, including the characterization of the measures, actions (means of implementation) and general context will be published in the First Biennial Transparency Report, given that this information is under preparation.

• Among the mitigation measures reported by the Ministry of Energy we find the development of the ESCO market, the labeling of energy efficiency and minimum standards for domestic appliances, the installation of solar thermal systems in homes in reconstruction programs, solar thermal systems in social housing, among others.
• Among the mitigation measures reported by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, we find the program to renew buses, the increase in Metrotren NOS capacity, and renewal of buses in the Santiago Public Transportation System (RED), among others.
• Among the mitigation measures reported by the Ministry of Mining, we find the 2030 Goals for sustainability in Codelco, the providing of photovoltaic systems and the National Fund for Regional Mining Development Program for the Atacama Region.
• Among the means of implementation reported by the Ministry of Health, we find the Update of the Regulation on Sanitary Conditions and Basic Safety in Sanitary Landfills stands out.
• Among the mitigation actions reported by the Ministry of Public Works, we find the Sustainable Building Certification, the Obligation to prepare a waste management plan for all MOP projects, the Implementation of NCRE in MOP projects, among others.
• Among the means of implementation reported by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, we find the Housing Energy Rating, Sustainable Housing Certification, the National Sustainable Construction Strategy (ENCS), the Subsidy for thermal conditioning of housing, Ciclovías Plan, among others.

The mitigation efforts of other public institutions will be published in the First Biennial Transparency Report.

2. Mitigation efforts at the subnational level

In Chile, climate action is in the process of being formally and permanently integrated into the management of regional and local governments through the development and updating of current strategic development and territorial planning instruments, as well as in the tools for climate change management proposed in the Climate Change Framework Law.

The formation of the Regional Climate Change Committees, the approval of the first four Regional Climate Change Action Plans and the efforts of some municipalities to develop their Community Climate Change Action Plans, show the beginning of a multilevel coordination process between the main objectives established in national public policies and the management instruments established at regional and community level.

2.1 Regional Mitigation Efforts

The Regional Climate Change Action Plans are the first climate management instruments focused on the subnational level, which are defined in the Climate Change Framework Law. In addition, the law establishes minimum contents that must be incorporated into the Regional Action Plans. At the same time, the Ministry of the Environment has regulated the procedures for their preparation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and updating, which include citizen consultation.

Currently there are four approved plans and in implementation stage (Atacama, O'Higgins, Los Ríos and Los Lagos). The rest of the regions are in different stages of developing their plans. In total, there are nine that have already formally begun the development of their plans (Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Metropolitana, Maule, La Araucanía, Aysén and Magallanes), of which the Metropolitan Region stands out, whose plan is its the last stage before final approval.

2.2 Local mitigation efforts

a. Municipal Action Plans for Climate Change. The Climate Change Framework Law, published in June 2022, indicates in its article 12 that municipalities must develop a Climate Change Action Plan, consistent with the Long Term Climate Strategy guidelines and the Regional Action Plans of Climate Change. The deadline to prepare the plans is three years from the publication of the law (June 2025).

Each plan must consider, at a minimum: i) The characterization of vulnerability to climate change and potential impacts on the Municipality, ii ) Mitigation and adaptation measures at the community level and related to the means of implementation, including the identification of their financing sources at the municipal level, iii ) Detailed description of the measures considered with indication of implementation deadlines and assignment of responsibilities, and iv) Monitoring, reporting and verification indicators of compliance with the plan measures, in accordance with the Long-Term Climate Strategy.

To date, five communes have a published a Plan, and 18 municipalities have a plan in the process of preparation or validation. Additionally, at least 29 communes have previous environmental management instrument, in the process of updating and/or validating these as Community Action Plans.

b. Municipal Environmental Certification System. The Municipal Environmental Certification System is a comprehensive voluntary system that allows municipalities to establish themselves in the territory as an environmental management model. The number of municipalities that are part of the system by 2023 is 240, which corresponds to 70% of the country's municipalities.

c. Comuna Energética. Comuna Energética is a program promoted by the Ministry of Energy and the Energy Sustainability Agency in 2015. Its objective is to contribute to improving energy management and the participation of municipalities and local actors to promote the generation and implementation of initiatives and innovative sustainable energy projects in the municipalities of Chile. To achieve this, municipalities are technically and financially supported to develop their Local Energy Strategy, with local energy visions and action plans devised by the .

Local Energy Strategies are an instrument at the community level that seeks, through dialogue at the community level and local actors, to support energy decentralization and promote energy efficiency, the generation of own energy resources based on renewable sources and projects created by the community, in order to improve the quality of life of the residents of the municipality with awareness of responsible energy consumption behavior. Between 2022 and 2023, 15 projects were implemented that addressed the energy needs of local communities in a situation of energy poverty and 5 local energy investment initiatives, including actions for photovoltaic electricity generation, thermal insulation, energy efficiency, electric mobility and energy storage systems.

d. Environmental Protection Fund. This is the first and only national competitive fund, created by Law, that the State has to support environmental initiatives presented by citizens.

The objective of the fund is to support citizen initiatives and fully or partially finance projects or activities aimed at the protection or repair of the environment, sustainable development, the preservation of nature or the conservation of environmental heritage. From 2021 to March 2024, the fund has provided financing to 549 projects or initiatives that applied for the different available competitions.

e. National System of Environmental Certification of Educational Establishments. It is a voluntary intersectoral program that provides public certification to educational establishments that effectively implement environmental education strategies in their school communities. It is coordinated by the National Environmental Certification Committee, composed of the Ministry of the Environment, as executive secretary, the Ministry of Education, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) these being the founding institution, later joined by the Undersecretary of Early Childhood Education, the National Board of Kindergartens (JUNJI), the Integra Foundation, the Directorate of Public Education, the Ministry of Energy and the Energy Sustainability Agency.

As of this date, there are 2,339 certified educational establishments throughout the country.

2.3 Public-private mitigation efforts.

The challenge of climate change involves all actors in society at their administrative and geographic organizational scales. Thus, including public-private mitigation actions is increasingly necessary, not only at the national level but also at the local level. In this context, the Sustainability and Climate Change Agency and the HuellaChile Program of the MMA were born.

a. Sustainability and Climate Change Agency. This agency was created by Agreement of the Board of CORFO and is a CORFO committee whose mission is to promote the inclusion of the dimension of climate change and sustainable development in the private sector and communities. This must be achieved through voluntary agreements, coordination with other public institutions, promotion initiatives and the execution of programs and projects that contribute to the construction of a sustainable, resilient and low-carbon economy. At the same time, it supports compliance with Chile's international commitments in these matters.

One of the main instruments of the agency consists of the Clean Production Agreements, as established in article 10 of Law 20,416 of the Ministry of Economy, which sets special rules for smaller companies. A Clean Production Agreement is an agreement concluded between a business sector and the State administration bodies, whose objective is to apply clean production through specific goals and actions and thus contribute to the sustainable development of companies. From 2012 to 2020, 115 agreements have been signed, with a reduction of 1,130,365 tCO2 eq.

b. HuellaChile Program. The objective of this voluntary program is to promote the calculation, reporting and management of GHG in public and private sector organizations and in local governments in Chile. Among the pillars of HuellaChile is the delivery of certifications seals to organizations that obtain a degree of progress in the management of their organizational carbon footprint, recognized with the progressive seals of quantification, reduction, neutralization and excellence.

Currently, more than 2,589 organizations are registered, of which 89 correspond to municipalities. On the other hand, more than 1,630 recognition stamps have been delivered, with 78 of them delivered to municipalities. To date, 3 communes have obtained recognition for the quantification of their communal inventory: San Antonio, Colina and Valdivia. The first two were part of the pilot for the development of the platform, while the third obtained its recognition voluntarily. This module is expected to be enabled for use in 2024.

b. Measures to increase the non-conventional renewable energies participation

During the last years, Chile has made strong efforts to increase the participation of NCRE. In 2008, the NCRE Law (Law No. 20.257) established the mandatory requirement for electric companies (with a capacity higher than 200 MW, that also provided energy to the SIC and SING system) to ensure that at least 5% of the energy provided comes from NCRE sources, with a target of 10% by 2024. Then, in 2013, Law No. 20,698 increased the target to 20% by 2025.

Another important milestone in the efforts to transition to clean energies is the plan to phase out carbon plants, announced in 2019, and through which Chile committed to abandon carbon plants by 2040. Since then, this plan has been continued accelerated. By 2025, 50% of the total carbon plants will be withdrawn, which will be partially replaced by NCRE sources, including new sources under development and which are in the core of the Chilean strategy, such as the green hydrogen.

In 2022, it was approved the Law of Energy Storage (Law No. 21,505) which favor the storage of NCRE energies, avoiding its waste and includes a transitory reduction of certain regulatory payments that electric and hybrid cars make.

On the regulatory side, in September 2020 was published the Flexibility Strategy[8]. Flexibility is understood as the capacity of an electric system to respond to the variability and uncertainty of the demand and generation, in a safe and efficient way. Thus, this strategy established as objective several actions to develop market signals and processes that allow and promote the flexibility required by the National Electric System. In this moment, some of the regulatory changes derived from the strategy are in process or pending to be approved.

One of the main tools and process to plan the future of the country’s energy is the Long-Term Energy Planification. This is a process led by the Ministry of Energy, and its objective is to Project the energetic future in a 30-year horizon. For these purposes, it defines different long-term energy scenarios, showing different alternatives for the development of the energy matrix. In this moment, it is available the draft for the 2023-2027 Long-Term Energy Planification[9].

Regarding more recent developments, there are other bills under discussion in the Congress: i) the Bill to Foster NCRE, which establishes minimum renewable energy quota obligations for suppliers, establishing an annual quota of 60% and a quota per hourly block of 40% by 2030; ii) The Energy Transition Bill, which seeks to improve the planification and expansion of transmission lines, to facilitate the development of NCRE projects, and iii) The Bill to improve the Geothermal Law, which seeks to facilitate the development of geothermal projects.

Finally, and in coordination with the Ministry of National Assets (Ministerio de Bienes Nacionales) fiscal properties have been designated for the development of NCRE projects, through direct awards and public bidding processes. The current installed capacity on public lands represents 41% of the country's total operating capacity (wind and solar, with 21% and 49%, respectively).

Green Hydrogen

On November 3, 2020, the Ministry of Energy pu- blished the National Green Hydrogen Strategy, which seeks to take advantage of the opportunity to produce and export green hydrogen and its de- rivatives, which include ammonia, methanol, and synthetic fuels.

Through three stages, it is intended to accelerate the use of green hydrogen in key national appli- cations by 2025, enter the export market by 2030 and be the leading global exporter of green hy- drogen at a cheap production cost.

In June 20224, it was launched the Green Hydro- gen Explorer[10], with the objective of reducing cost and terrestrial barriers of green hydrogen production, as well as to promote the development of new projects.

In April 2024, it was launched the National Action Plan of Green Hydrogen (2023-20230)[11], which considers short and long term objectives, with clear responsibilities and accountability. This tool allows the identification of strategic networks to focus and prioritize the work of different institutions.

Although the participation of this technology in the current matrix is low, it is expected it will in- crease in the future.

c. Measures to increase the participation of women in boards of directors

Women’s participation in decisionmaking positions is critical to promoting gender equality and diversity and inclusion. During the current administration, 94 new members appointed on the board of public companies were women. The Government of President Boric also introduced “Chile para Todos” (Chile for All), a comprehensive and intersectional plan to promote gender equality. The five main measures of the “Chile para Todas” plan includes: i) Enactment of the Parental Responsibility and Effective Payment of Maintenance Debts Law 2; ii) Flexible start times for people who have children under 12 years of age under their care 3; iii) Special permits for caregivers of children under 12 years of age; iv) Reduced working hours for domestic employees; v) Development of 40 care and protection centers

The implementation of the CMF General Standards N°386 and N°461 raised disclosure standards for the companies it oversees. They incorporate a "Report of Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development”, that provides indicators on the diversity of the board, senior management, and the entire organization, along with indicators on gender pay gaps, and information requirements on sustainability and corporate governance in environmental, social and governance topics. Chile has also made progress in increasing female participation in historically male-dominated sectors, with the auctions and projects of the Ministry of Public Works including gender factors, as well as the “Energía + Mujer” initiative from the Ministry of Energy. Through the use of public-private partnerships, the “Energía + Mujer” initiative aims to rectify gaps and barriers of the advancement of women in the energy sector, with the goal of promoting more diverse leadership and management.

Finally, there is a bill under discussion in Congress to establish a mandatory quota for women participation on boards of all companies under the scope of the CMF. The original bill, titled “Más Mujeres en Directorios” (more women on Boards of Companies), established a suggested quota of 20.0% for the first three years. Then, in the fourth and fifth year, the suggested quota will increase to 40.0%. The bill is under discussion of the Congress.