Working visit by Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard to Chile for talks on energy, environment and infrastructure
Bern, 01.11.2015 - During her working visit to Chile, Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard signed an agreement on intensified bilateral cooperation in the areas of energy and environment, met a number of members of the Chilean government and attended events focusing on energy and infrastructure. At the same time, the “Watt d’Or - Swiss Energy Excellence” exhibition of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy was opened for the first time in South America.
Last Thursday, Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard signed two agreements in Santiago de Chile aimed at intensifying cooperation between Switzerland and Chile in the areas of energy and environment (cf. press release dated 30 October 2015). Together with Chilean energy minister Máximo Pacheco, the head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) took this opportunity to identify the challenges facing Switzerland and Chile. Both countries want to reduce their dependence on energy imports and are therefore focusing more strongly on promoting energy efficiency and the use of domestic renewable energy sources.
Federal Councillor Leuthard also held talks with Chilean environment minister Pablo Badenier about the forthcoming UN climate conference in Paris. Both Chile and Switzerland are pursuing an ambitious climate policy. While Switzerland aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50 percent by 2030 versus the 1990 level, Chile is targeting a reduction by 30 percent versus 2007. The talks also touched on the topics of biodiversity and chemical waste. In addition, the head of DETEC promoted Geneva as the location for the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
During her visit, Federal Councillor Leuthard opened the "Watt d'Or - Swiss Energy Excellence" touring exhibition organised by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. This exhibition presents projects that have won awards in Switzerland thanks to their positive energy balance. It also sets out to make Switzerland better known in South America as a location for research and innovation.
Integration of the population into the construction of infrastructure
An event held on Friday and organised by the Chilean business association, ICARE, focused on the expansion of energy infrastructure. In her talks with politicians and representatives of the business sector, Federal Councillor Leuthard emphasised the importance of integrating civil society and local authorities into large-scale infrastructure construction projects. She noted that Switzerland has had positive experience in this regard in the past. Using the Swiss model as inspiration, the Chilean government only very recently introduced rules governing civil participation, which gave rise to a boost in investment in infrastructure. During her meeting with Paulina Saball, Chilean minister for urban planning, Federal Councillor Leuthard also explained how the population is integrated in Switzerland. She pointed out that spatial planning measures such as classification of land into development and protected zones increases the confidence placed in the authorities by the population. Expanding and upgrading transport and energy infrastructure is one of the priorities of the Chilean government, and it is possible that Swiss companies could also benefit from this increasing investment activity.
To conclude her visit, Federal Councillor Leuthard visited the Swiss gold refinery operated by Argor-Heraeus, and the "El Teniente" copper mine located to the south of Santiago de Chile. Copper is a major source of revenue for Chile, but mining is a burden on the environment, for example due to the release of sulphur dioxide and particulate matter, as well as pollution of the soil and bodies of water, and high energy and water consumption. Federal Councillor Leuthard discussed the various associated challenges with experts and industry representatives, and called for the environmental impacts of the mining of raw materials to be depicted more transparently. In this connection she encouraged Chile to sign up to the "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative" (EITI), which Switzerland has been actively supporting since 2009. This Initiative is endeavouring to bring about greater transparency on a voluntary basis, specifically with respect to revenue obtained from the mining of raw materials.
Another important issue that was addressed in the talks with experts and authorities was natural hazards, which can be expected to increase in the wake of climate change. In particular in the areas of early warning and response to floods, avalanches and landslides, Switzerland possesses know-how that could also be of value to Chile.
Address for enquiries
Harald Hammel, DETEC Press and Information Service, phone no. +41 79 444 68 13
Publisher
General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC
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