Climate Bonds Initiative in association with Chile’s Ministry of Finance, the Green Finance Public-Private Roundtable (La Mesa) and the Interamerican Development Bank has released the Taxonomy Roadmap for Chile, which will guide the Chilean Government towards the future development of a Chilean green taxonomy.
A national taxonomy can be used across sectors and is a multi-functional classification system for financial and non-financial sectors that will serve as a blueprint for greening Chile’s economy. According to the report’s analysis, priority sectors include Energy, Transport, Construction, and Industry (mining).
A sustainable classification system may facilitate the capital flows into sustainable activities and assets and act as guidance for climate-aligned investments and project development. Moreover, it supports the correct assessment of climate-related risks for the financial sector.
The recommended pathway for Chile is to adopt, adapt, and lead.
- First step is to adopt the eligibility criteria from international taxonomies where possible;
- Second, to adapt and modify international criteria to account for local circumstances;
- And third, to take leadership globally in developing new criteria in areas that are underdeveloped.
The Taxonomy Roadmap shows that a taxonomy can be applied to a wide range of users and financial instruments. However, it is recommended to initially focus on green debt instruments and later expand to other financial instruments, products, and entities.
Justine Leigh-Bell, Deputy CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative:
“We are very excited to see Chile continuing its commitment to the green finance agenda through the development of a national taxonomy roadmap. The alignment of this taxonomy with international ones will be a core objective of the taxonomy development process for Chile. This initiative is extremely important for the region as it establishes precedent for other Latin American countries to move towards a low carbon economy.”
Rodrigo Cerda, Minister, Ministry of Finance:
“Chile has taken concrete steps on climate action in recent years. This report should be an important building block in supporting the taxonomy discussion in our economy.”
Trinidad Lecaros, Coordinator of La Mesa
“To facilitate the allocation of capital to low-emission and climate-resilient sectors, we must be able to classify green economic activities, -which is what a taxonomy allows-, making it easier for the financial sector to identify and respond to the multiple opportunities that will come under our climate goals. The world must keep the global temperature below 2 degrees, allowing future generations to enjoy a more liveable and sustainable planet. Chile is devoted to this enormous challenge and this Report is a clear signal.”
Florencia Attademo-Hirt, IDB Representative in Chile
“For the IDB, it is a pleasure to continue partnering with Chile’s comprehensive green finance agenda, a leading and pioneering effort in Latin America and the Caribbean. We congratulate the Ministry of Finance for its leadership in this topic and ability to develop a critical dialogue with other regulators and supervisors. I am sure the Taxonomy Roadmap will be very useful for the strengthening of this agenda in Chile.”
Chile is leading the way to a low-carbon economy in Latin America
The green finance agenda is a priority for the Government of Chile. This can be observed through Chile’s updated NDCs (Nationally Determined Contribution commitments by countries established as part of the Paris Agreement of 2015) which set a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, and the country’s implementation of several national policies, plans and pieces of legislation to achieve this goal, such as the climate change bill currently being discussed in Congress.
In June 2019, Chile issued the first ever sovereign green bond in the Americas. With an amount of USD 1,418 million, this bond funded projects dedicated to infrastructure for electrified public transport (trains, buses); solar projects; energy efficiency; renewable energy; water management and green buildings. The Government of Chile has continued its sovereign green program into 2020 with two more green issuances reaching US$ 8.09 billion.
