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Whitney Pennington Rodgers:[br]Marcelo Mena is an environmentalist,

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a scholar,

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and he is the former[br]Minister of Environment for Chile.

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Welcome, Marcelo.

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Marcelo Mena: How are you doing, Whitney.[br]Thanks for the invitation.

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WPR: Perfect. Great.

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Of course, thank you so much[br]for being with us here today.

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And you know, before we dive[br]into the future of climate action

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in Chile and beyond,

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I think it would be great for us[br]to talk about the present,

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and why Chile really represents[br]a country that is worth thinking about

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when we talk about climate.

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You know, recently there have been[br]lots of commendable actions

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taken by your country[br]when we think about climate.

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Chile recently committed[br]to net zero emissions by 2050,

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the first in the Americas to do this,

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and that's especially notable[br]when you think about

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how much of Chile's economy[br]really depends on carbon emissions:

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mining, agriculture, and spaces like that.

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So could you start a little bit[br]by just talking about

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how would this even be possible[br]to get to net zero emissions in 30 years,

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and what would that mean for Chile?

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MM: It was a very surreal image

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when we saw Minister Schmidt,

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the COP25 president,

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Patricia Espinosa,[br]the UN head on climate change,

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with masks delivering this new NDC.

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The important thing here is things[br]that are hard to build require consensus,

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but therefore to get rid[br]of that commitment,

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you need to have another consensus.

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This hasn't happened,

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so I think is, the reason why Chile[br]has a sort of vision towards mitigation

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that's ambitious

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is that we see that there's[br]a big economic benefit.

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We have seen, we've witnessed,

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what the renewable energy sector[br]has been able to do for investment,

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for lowering energy costs,

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and so therefore to reach this goal

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we will inevitably expand[br]to 100 percent renewable,

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but we'll also transform our industry,[br]which is heavy on fossil fuels,

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towards low emissions,

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with the hydrogen economy kicking in,

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with a recently launched committee[br]that I formed, that Minister Jobet,

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the Minister of Energy, set up.

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And also energy efficiency[br]and a lot of capture, carbon capture.

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We are endowed with[br]a lot of natural capital.

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Taking care of that natural capital[br]and expanding plantations

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will allow us to reach net zero by 2050.

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WPR: That's great.

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And now it seems like Chile[br]has such a huge focus, then,

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in thinking about renewable energy[br]and thinking about climate.

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But this wasn't always the case.

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Could you talk a little bit, I guess,

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about the history of how Chile[br]arrived at this moment?

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MM: Yeah, so in 2011, 2010,

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we had an energy discussion[br]with incumbents

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saying the only way we could solve[br]our energy problems

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will be through large coal[br]and large hydro in Patagonia.

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And that really polarized the discussion.

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We got together as a community[br]after large protests

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that triggered a lot of social movements,

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and we started discussing

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how we should be able[br]to do our energy going forward.

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The population, public unrest,[br]set up almost 6,000 megawatts

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of coal fired power plants[br]to never be built.

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And when the government,[br]Michelle Bachelet's government came in,

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we pulled the plug on HidroAysén project,

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which is a big hydro project[br]in the Patagonia.

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And both of these conditions[br]enabled an opportunity

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for renewable energy to be set in.

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We put in carbon taxes,

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we put in environmental regulations,

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and we set up an energy strategy[br]that we did building on discussing

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and looking at the data

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in which we thought that[br]the 70 percent renewable energy by 2050

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was going to be a target[br]that we could agree on.

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This target has been long surpassed.

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Now we're thinking of reaching[br]that same goal by 2030.

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WPR: And what you were saying[br]about social protests,

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that's something that a lot of people[br]maybe have been following

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news of what's going in Chile[br]are familiar with recent social protests,

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and I think I'm curious about[br]how you see that factoring in

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to climate action moving forward.

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How might these social protests

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play a role in what[br]climate action you see?

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And, really, how is it possible for Chile[br]to be a leader in climate action

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while also struggling[br]with some of these social issues?

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MM: Well, the social issues,

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which are very profound[br]and important to address,

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caused, for example, COP25

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to not be able to be held in Santiago,[br]and to go to Madrid.

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And this also shifted a whole bunch[br]of the discussions and announcements

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that were done

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and we were expecting to have.

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But regardless of this,

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the fact that we have this commitment[br]from the government today

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shows that there's a resolution[br]to continue forward.

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But really the model,

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the economic model of Chile,

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was brought into question,

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because the environmental issues,[br]for example, are quite widespread,

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and many times you have[br]large coal-fired power plants

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being situated where people live

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and with higher mortality rates.

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Somebody who lives[br]where a power plant is installed

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has twice the rate of death

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in comparison to other people in Chile.

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So the model of having many people[br]be impacted for the benefit of few

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is something that caused[br]and triggered the social unrest.

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And it goes into the economic model itself

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of extracting, colluding,[br]impacting communities

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that may not see the benefits[br]of these economic activities.

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So while we've done a lot,[br]we've come a long way,

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for example in securing

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a very emblematic agreement[br]to phase out coal-fired power plants,

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many people that this[br]wasn't done fast enough

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and want this action to be brought faster.

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WPR: And it sounds like having people[br]be the voice and the engine

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behind making that happen

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has really been part[br]of this historical thread

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with climate action in Chile

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and seems like it would really[br]lead things moving into the future.

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MM: No, definitely -- yes.[br]Go ahead. Sorry.

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WPR: Go ahead. Please go ahead.

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We have a little bit of a delay.

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MM: Starting out, we are doing well,

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but I think we need[br]to double down our commitments.

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So even though[br]we have ministries involved,

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we have civil society involved,

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we need to bring in[br]the mainstream industry.

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I think, for example, the mining sector[br]has a great opportunity

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to be the solution[br]for the environmental issues,

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because we provide the copper,[br]the cobalt, the lithium

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that are required for solar PV panels,[br]for battery storage.

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But we need to do this in a clean manner.

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I think that's the biggest challenge[br]we're going to have

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in the next 20 years ahead.

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WPR: And sort of pivoting to the pandemic

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and to thinking about what's going,

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right now the entire world has obviously[br]been devastated by this crisis.

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What have been some of the unique[br]challenges that Chile has faced

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during this pandemic?

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MM: Well, definitely, as anybody,

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we are always struggling within

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taking actions today to prevent[br]a deeper impact in the future.