Out of 31 countries to which Climate Action Tracker the magnifying glass for their promises of zero emissions from greenhouse gases y climate commitmentssix achieved an acceptable rating, among which the following stand out Chile, Colombia y Costa Ricareported El País.
The Paris Agreement, signed by 192 nations in 2015, sets long-term goals as a guide for all nations:
- Substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase this century to 2°C and strive to limit this increase to even more than just 1.5°C.
- Reviewing countries' commitments every five years
- Financing for developing countries to mitigate climate change, strengthen resilience and improve their capacity to adapt to climate change impacts.
As a result, several countries have announced carbon neutrality commitments for 2050.
Action Climate Tracker specializes in analyzing the climate commitments of 31 countries, with Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and the nations of the European Union standing out with acceptable results.
"The net-zero emissions targets set by Costa Rica, Colombia and Chile are well documented, backed up by studies, are cohesive and very complete," says Gustavo de Vivero, climate policy analyst at the New Climate Institute, who evaluated Colombia.
That these countries of Latin America are planting a good target of carbon neutral is a very powerful message, because despite not being major emitters, they are emerging to take the lead, adds Judit Hecke, who conducted the assessment for Chile.
Specialists clarify that the Climate Action Tracker methodology does not take into account the implementation so that countries effectively comply with the net zero emissionsThe company has been able to make a commitment to the company, but what they did was to take 10 criteria to know if these commitments are sufficiently strong and transparent.
The carbon neutral target criteria are as follows:
- Target year (by 2050 or earlier)
- Emissions coverage (all types of emissions to be taken into account)
- Aviation and international navigation
- Reduction or removal outside their own borders (not dependent on other countries)
- Binding laws
- Separating emission reduction targets from capture targets
- Monitoring tool
- Carbon dioxide removal
- Comprehensive planning
- Clarity of equity in the objectives
Chile achieved the highest category in eight of the ten criteria.
"This country had an incredible participatory process with the people, where the public was consulted on how to create that net-zero emissions goal," Hecke says.
Chile's carbon neutrality goal specifies how many emissions each sector must reduce, beyond the environmental and energy sectors, and clearly states how this process will be audited, he adds.
Chile did not do well in aviation and international navigation, nor did it achieve clarity in the fairness of the objectives.
Meanwhile, Colombia scored best in eight of the ten criteria, failing also in aviation and international navigation, and in that, although they explain how they want to reduce emissions through land use change, they do not say how they will achieve other necessary emissions reductions through carbon removal and storage technologies.
In Colombia, the main source of emissions continues to be deforestation, so a very ambitious program will be needed to move from paper to reality.
"Although we don't look at that in the analysis, the biggest challenge is the implementation gap," says the expert.
In the case of Costa Rica, it achieved four criteria with the best category, two in a "medium" status, and two more in a "red" classification. Although this country has very strong climate commitments, unlike Chile and Colombia, they are not yet linked to any law, so they are not binding.
Costa Rica also fails in the aviation and international navigation criteria, and also fails to achieve clarity in the equity of the objectives.
Experts point out that the fact that three Latin American countries are beginning to lead such rankings is a great sign of the seriousness with which the fight against climate change is being taken in the region.
Source: El País
