December 2014: Chile is the first county in the Latin America and Caribbean region and the fourth country in the world to have submitted its first biennial update report (BUR) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It did so during the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, in December 2014. To date, 10 non-Annex I countries have submitted BURs to the UNFCCC.

Chile’s BUR was delivered personally to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres by the President of Chile Michelle Bachelet on 10 December 2014. The report was produced by the Climate Change Office of the country’s Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with other ministries represented at the Council of Ministers for Sustainability and Climate Change of Chile. The BUR includes: a 1990-2010 time line of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories; a comprehensive list of national mitigation actions, ranging from policies to nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs); the results of the second phase of the MAPS-Chile project, a government-driven analysis of mitigation scenarios and options; and the results of a study on flows of international support for climate action in Chile.

The preparation of Chile’s BUR was supported by the Information Matters project of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through the inclusion of an adviser in the report team, and a series of capacity-building activities focused improving the transparency of climate change-related reporting, including GHG inventories, mitigation actions and financial support received.

BURs, together with national communications, are the reporting instruments for non-Annex I country Parties of the UNFCCC. The UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) has decided that the BURs and should be consistent with the Party’s capabilities or level of support provided; and submitted by December 2014 and every two years thereafter. The COP has also decided that Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) may submit BURs at their own discretion. As of 9 February, 10 non-Annex I countries had submitted BURs, namely, Andorra, Brazil, Chile, Namibia, Peru, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Tunisia and Viet Nam.

The submission of Chile’s BUR was reported on by the International Partnership on Mitigation and MRV, a partnership launched within the framework of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, which supports practical exchange on mitigation-related activities, including measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), between developing and developed countries. [International Partnership on Mitigation and MRV Press Release] [Publication: Chile’s First Biennial Update Report – Executive Summary] [Publication: Chile’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2010] [UNFCCC List of Submitted BURs]