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Chile to Account for Costs of Climate Change in Budget

Reuters

   SANTIAGO - Chile will begin budgeting for the costs of fighting climate
   change, Finance Minister Felipe Larrain announced Tuesday, as receding
   glaciers and drought put a squeeze on water and natural resources in
   the world's top copper producer.

   The South American nation, which is due to host the COP25 global
   conference on climate change in December, said it would include a new
   line item for "climate expenditures" in its government budgets
   beginning in 2020.

   "Currently, we don't know how much we're spending in the financing of
   climate action. The lack of information makes it difficult to make good
   decisions," Larrain told reporters.

   The methodology, called the Climate Public Expenditures and
   Institutional Review (CPEIR), is sponsored in part by the United
   Nations Development Program (UNDP), and has received funding from
   Germany. It includes a tool that allows countries to more precisely
   track how much money is spent on fighting climate change.

   Larrain said the tool would allow Chile to "assess ... the costs of
   inaction, that is, incorporate the analysis of the cost of not
   implementing immediate and timely measures."

   A years-long drought in Chile, coupled with a growing population and a
   sprawling copper and lithium mining industry thirsty for water, have
   forced Chilean officials to look more closely at the costs of climate
   change.

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