Chile to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030

Chile plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030, Environment Minister Pablo Badenier said Friday.

Badenier said his country will announce the pledge at the upcoming 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.

The conference should lead to the adoption of "a binding agreement, with mandatory compliance, between all countries," on cutting harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, Badenier told a gathering of foreign correspondents.

He said such an agreement should also surpass the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming.

With additional financial support, "we could cut the gases by up to 45 percent by the same year," said the minister.

In 2007, Chile emitted 1.02 tons of CO2 per million pesos in gross domestic product (GDP), and aims to cut the figure down to 0.71 over the next 15 years.

The overall target is to reduce greenhouse gases by between 40 percent and 70 percent by 2050, in an attempt to prevent global warming from going over 2 degrees Celsius. Experts have warned of a 4.8-degree temperature rise by the end of the century.

To spur industries to use cleaner production processes, Chile will also introduce a tax on CO2 emissions of 5 dollars per ton in 2017, said Badenier.

United Nations studies show 2014 was the warmest year since records started to be kept in 1880, and several months this year have already registered higher rates.

Badenier warned that if participants at the Paris meeting fail to reach a firm agreement, "commitments may be watered down" with the passage of time, and "if each country carries out its own accounting of emissions, using different methods, it's going to be very difficult to reach the targets."

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet will be heading her country's delegation to the global conference in Paris, which is expected to draw some 80 heads of state and government, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama.

Many countries, including China and the United States, have said they will be going to Paris with concrete proposals on cutting their respective greenhouse gas emissions. Endi