The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) participated on Saturday, December 8, in a side event organized by the EUROCLIMA + programme of the European Union, in the framework of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP24) held in Poland, with the objective of sharing successful experiences on compliance with nationally determined contributions (NDC) in the region.
Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary sent a video message in which she highlighted the work carried out by the commission in the framework of cooperation with EUROCLIMA+.
"ECLAC leads several regional initiatives that support countries in meeting their commitments on climate change issues, such as the social carbon price working group that seeks to incorporate sustainability criteria in the evaluation of public investment projects", she stated.
The event was attended by representatives of the European Union, Colombia, Costa Rica, NDC Partnership, Avina Foundation and LEDS LAC. Jimy Ferrer, Economic Affairs Officer of the Division of Sustainable Development and Human Settlements, spoke on behalf of ECLAC.
Horst Pilger, Head of Sector of the European Union, sustained that “we are at a key moment for increasing the level of climate ambition, there has been a lot of progress in the region in recent years”.
The panel also presented the experiences of Colombia and Costa Rica in the implementation of their NDC.
“In the case of Colombia, we are in an information exchange process between NDC implementation targets and the way these are grounded in intersectoral projects,” explained Edgar Cruz, representative of Colombia’s Planning Department.
For her part, Andrea Meza, director of Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, said that in Costa Rica the goals have been identified and agreements have been signed to reduce emissions; and in a later step, agreements were incorporated into intersectoral budgets. All are focused on meeting the targets in each sector.
"ECLAC has estimated that Latin America and the Caribbean has been decarbonizing its economy at an average rate of two percent per year. However, to be consistent with the objective of not exceeding the 1.5 ºC limit of the planet's temperature increase, the rate of decarbonization in the region should triple and reach a rate of -6.3% in the coming years”, Jimmy Ferrer warned.
About EUROCLIMA+
EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union to promote environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient development in 18 Latin American countries, particularly for the benefit of the most vulnerable populations. The Programme is implemented through the synergistic work of seven agencies: Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), French Development Agency (AFD), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Expertise France (EF), International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and UN Environment.
