At COP27, Chile, New Zealand Representatives Express Support for Potential Collaboration in Climate Action Teams

Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt--During a side event at the United Nations climate talks, government representatives from Chile and New Zealand expressed interest in and support for exploring the creation of a Climate Action Team agreement between the two countries. 

A ‘Climate Action Team’ is a cooperative mechanism within Article 6.2. of the Paris Agreement, made up of one 'host' country and one or more 'partner' countries. Under a multi‐year agreement, the partners will support the host country to accelerate climate action and decarbonization efforts beyond its own national climate goals (Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC) and create social benefits. Partners are rewarded by claiming credits for the emission reductions generated through the Climate Action Team.

The event featured a panel discussion exploring the possibility of the creation of the CAT between Chile and New Zealand, the benefits it could provide to both countries, and the challenges and next steps to begin an exploration process.

“Chile is open to initiatives under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, such as the one proposed by Climate Action Teams. But before signing any commitment, it is essential to generate a technical exploratory process with a potential partner countries to find out what this means in practice. It would help us a lot to have the resources to generate the relevant information and analysis to make a well-informed decision,” said Rodrigo Arriagada, Head of the Information and Environmental Economics, Ministry of the Environment of Chile.

“The Climate Action Teams model has many virtues, such as eliminating project-based additionality and reducing transaction cost,” said Santiago Lorenzo, Head of the Climate Change Unit of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). “I see ECLAC's support as very viable for an exploratory process with Chile and other countries in the region that join this initiative.”

“Article 6 cooperation is key to scaling up ambition in this critical decade,” said Kay Harrison, Climate Ambassador for New Zealand. “New Zealand looks forward to exploring innovative cooperation with an ambitious partner like Chile.”

The side event also included presentations on three different models of large-scale mechanisms to finance climate action and just energy transitions in developing countries: the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), the US-led Energy Transition Accelerator, and the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition. It featured speakers from the governments of Chile, New Zealand and the United States; Environmental Defense Fund (EDF); and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).

“To combat the climate crisis, we have to move with scale, speed and integrity. Mechanisms like the newly-announced, US-led Energy Transition Accelerator and Climate Action Teams have potential to leverage their large scale to make major strides forward because of their ability to reduce emissions in high-integrity, easily-verifiable ways,” said Suzi Kerr, Chief Economist at the Environmental Defense Fund. “These are models that we have to start designing and implementing so that countries can get the support needed to raise their climate ambition.”