Chilean President calls for protection of Antarctic maritime resources

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, called on Thursday to establish a protection zone for Antarctic maritime resources reiterated his commitment to achieving total decarbonization of the Chilean energy matrix by 2040.

During his speech at the Climate Summit organized by Washington virtually, the Chilean president invited the rest of the countries to work together in “the protection of the entire sea around Antarctica,” where biodiversity plays a “fundamental role” in the conservation of the oceans.

“Chile has already established maritime protection zones that cover 40% of our economic zone,” he asserted.

Chile’s Antarctica recorded the highest average maximum temperature in the last three decades during the austral winter of 2020. Its melting is the second largest contributor to global sea-level rise after the melting of ice in Greenland.

Piñera also urged the creation of “the first offshore protection zone in the Nazca area,” where a submarine mountain range is located on the South American tectonic plate off the coast of southern Peru.

“We have the necessary resources (to produce renewable energies), from the Atacama desert, which receives the highest radiation in the world, to the south of the country, where we have the strongest winds on the planet,” he added.

Thanks to this advantageous geographical position, the weather conditions, and the competitive production of solar and wind energy, the country will develop a powerful green hydrogen industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he added.

In this context, total decarbonization of the Chilean energy matrix will be achieved by 2040 and work towards carbon neutrality in Chile by 2050, he said.

In Chile, renewables increased from 32.8% of the energy matrix in 2013 to 45.5% in 2018. Solar generation increased more than 750-fold between 2013 and 2018, while wind increased seven-fold. By 2030, 70% of the energy matrix is expected to be renewables-based.

U.S. President Joe Biden invited to a virtual summit against climate change. The leaders of several countries responsible for 80% of global emissions and the leaders of other nations suffering the effects of climate change have shown willingness to combat it.

Among those invited to the summit, which takes place between Thursday and Friday, are the Chinese president, Xi Jinping; the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

From Latin America are the presidents of Argentina, Alberto Fernández; Colombia, Iván Duque; Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, and Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

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