Opinion – Why? Economês in good Portuguese: Green recovery: what could Brazil learn from Chile?

In the last texts of the “Why?” column, we have addressed the concept of green economic recovery, the use of public and private policies with the objective of aligning economic growth with social justice and the maintenance of ecosystem resources and services. While in Brazil the current government is far from making this transition to sustainable development, in one of our neighbors in Latin America, Chile, the green recovery is a reality. There is much that our governments could learn from the Chilean experience.

Recently, Chile has emerged as a global leader in sustainable development, actively contributing to the climate mitigation agenda. Examples are strong goals for decarbonizing the economy (Framework for Climate Change, a Chilean law that provides for zero carbon by 2050), the elaboration of climate policies that give prominence to green growth for economic recovery, and the planning to leverage renewable energy from the energy matrix. Chile in a strategic way.

World Bank studies indicate that if Chile reaches its decarbonization target, it could have an additional growth of 4.4% of its GDP by 2050. This would translate into an additional US$ 31 billion for the country’s economic development. In addition, advancing these goals enables Chile to become one of the world’s largest producers of cheap, green hydrogen, as outlined in its recently approved Green Hydrogen Strategy. The World Bank points out that, as a direct result of this strategy, Chile may be able to create more than 100,000 green jobs and generate US$ 200 billion in sustainable investments in the next 20 years.

The question is: how did Chile manage to make the environmental agenda an economic priority? In a seminar held on June 27, 2022 for the series Retomada Econômica Verde, Carolina Schmidt, former Minister of Education of Chile, brought some explanations.

One element raised by the minister was the presence of science in politics, guiding the dialogue between the different sectors of the economy and thus allowing the construction of a mapping of opportunities involving different sectors and government agencies. In a recent text from the column for the #CiênciaNasEleições campaign, by the Serrapilheira Institute, we defend precisely the importance of scientific knowledge for the design and implementation of public policies. Chile’s success is a practical example of how much we would gain if Brazilians took this into account when voting, choosing candidates who do not campaign on the basis of disinformation and who are willing to listen to scientists and make use of this knowledge in their government plans.

Another important point of the green recovery in Chile is that there was a multisectoral character in the elaboration of policies, designed to seek opportunities at the intersection between the various sectors of the economy. One example is the goal of reducing emissions in the transport of mineral inputs, an important component of the Chilean external balance. It was an agenda that pertains to both transport policy and the mining sector. It is crucial that in the next government there is this alignment between the sectors.

Furthermore, it is important to highlight the co-leadership of the private sector in the implementation of these strategies. Chileans understand that the green recovery is an opportunity for greater integration with international markets, not an obstacle to profit. We have mentioned a few times that this same movement seems to be emerging in Brazilian companies, but without the mechanisms and instruments created by the government, it is far from being achieved.

Green growth is critical to the future of all economies, and the messages conveyed by countries like Chile illustrate that a revolution towards a post-Covid era that ensures resilient, clean and sustainable growth that respects oceans, forests , land and society is possible for Brazil, even if it does not appear as a priority in the current government.

The seminar mentioned in the text is part of the series of seminars Retomada Verde, an initiative of Arq.Futuro, BEĨ Editora, IDS (Instituto Democracia e Sustentabilidade), platform Por Quê? – Economês in good Portuguese and Insper, with support from Itaú Unibanco. The experience of Chile, China and France has already been discussed in the seminars. The next events will address what is being done in the United States and in Brazil itself. More resources are available at this link.