A committee of experts presented 14 proposals to accelerate carbon neutrality in Chile, which highlight the role of the forestry sector

This group composed of 19 specialists was convened by Environment Minister Maisa Rojas. It worked for five months to draft its final report on solutions to issues such as water security, resilience, emissions reduction, energy challenges, and others.

CMPC CEO Francisco Ruiz-Tagle was one of the 19 experts on the committee. It served as a moment to highlight the essential role of the forestry sector in meeting environmental challenges, especially in terms of CO2 capture through plantations and wood construction.

Convened in March 2024 by the Ministries of the Environment, Economy, Energy, Science, to which Agriculture and Public Works were later added, the Carbon-Neutrality and Resilience Committee was formed to accelerate the transition to carbon-neutrality and the resilience of the economy through short- and medium-term proposals.

The 14 proposals were presented on Wednesday after five months of work, at the close of which the 19 participating experts had reached consensus. Their expertise ranges among the most diverse specialized areas, such as science, technology, academia, business sector, communications, authorities and trade unions. 

Committee members include the environmentalist Sara Larraín, former Environment Ministers Marcelo Mena and Carolina Schmidt, former COP 25 Champion Gonzalo Muñoz, and Wildlife Conservation Society Director Bárbara Saavedra.

“I am extremely grateful to these 19 people, whom I had personally called on, for accepting the invitation, for making their limited time and vast skills available in service to us. We’ve reached these consensus measures after much dialogue,” said Environment Minister Maisa Rojas on Wednesday at the report presentation ceremony held at the Pereira Palace in downtown Santiago.

Increased carbon capture and forest fire prevention in the agroforestry sector are among the 14 proposals; specifically, “Promoting wood construction”; “Promoting the circular economy in cities”; “Promoting the transition from an economy based on raw materials of fossil origin to one based on renewable bio-based resources”; and “Reuse and valorization of agricultural and forest biomass”, among others.

Actions in the forestry industry

Some of the proposals are focused clearly on the value and importance of the forestry sector and plantations for carbon capture and climate change mitigation. In light of this, Economy Minister Nicolás Grau pointed out that the industry can promote a comprehensive agenda that “incorporate quality jobs, as any development path clearly requires. However, there is simultaneously a very powerful environmental agenda due to the materials that replace wood construction and the impact they have on carbon release as well as technological aspects. We have to make an effort as a country toward speedier progress in these areas.”

For his part, CMPC CEO Francisco Ruiz-Tagle was grateful for the invitation to be part of the group and said, “We greatly value and appreciate that the Government has decided to form this committee to address a topic so relevant to the country and the planet, and also that it believes the forestry sector can and should make an outstanding contribution.”

According to the document, the wood industry and forest plantations maintain a fundamental role in the challenge of carbon capture and neutrality goals. One of the standout actions to take is the promotion of wood construction, which will enable the creation of an industry of biobased raw materials, while promoting the circular economy. Another objective is to increase the use of wood as the predominant construction material from 18% to 28% by 2030.

“Biobased products – typically wood and its derivatives – can be submitted to cascading transformation processes, facilitating the comprehensive use of resources. Likewise, recycling cycles are usually simpler and more effective, and the resources generated are frequently biodegradable under prevailing conditions in nature,” reads the document in the section “Replacing fossil raw materials with biobased ones.”

The committee has also proposed increasing the forest mass and other terrestrial and marine vegetation masses in Chile (natural forests and plantations, fruit trees, wetlands, algae, among others). In 2023, the surface area covered by forest mass represented 23.8% of the national territory at more than 18 million hectares. Of these, native forest represents 81.62% and tree plantations cover an area of ​​17.37% of the total. This is the plant mass responsible for half of Chile’s carbon-neutrality commitment by 2050. 

Another proposal focused on the forestry sector is to advance toward completely preventing forest fires, which are increasingly frequent and voracious due to the environmental conditions caused by climate change. For example, the mega fires of 2017 recorded emissions of around 68,000 kt CO2 eq, which exceeds what was emitted by land transport, electricity generation and industries combined in that same year.