Workshop "Tools for Measuring and Managing Risks and Uncertainties of Climate Change", 24 August 2018, Santiago, Chile

TRANSrisk partner Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (CLAPESUC) organised the workshop "Tools for Measuring and Managing Risks and Uncertainties of Climate Change" on 24^th August 2018, at the Aula Magna of the MBA Building of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Av. Lib. Bernardo O'Higgins 440), in Santiago, Chile.

At the workshop crucial topics were presented regarding Chile's sustainable development and the vital part of the energy sector in the low carbon transition.

More particularly, Hernán de Solminihac, CLAPESUC Director, welcomed the workshop's participants and presented TRANSrisk and its objectives. More particularly, Mr. De Solminihac pointed out TRANSrisk's main objectives, namely the creation of a novel assessment framework incorporating risk and uncertainty into the analysis of the costs and benefits of potential low carbon transition pathways and respective policy design, as well as the support of the EU and other policy makers with global objectives on climate change, by providing decision support tools for risk analysis and uncertainty for the formulation of public policies. The fact that these tools are based on the results of several case studies on low carbon transition, carried out within TRANSrisk, which combine both qualitative (stakeholders' knowledge) and quantitative (model results) methodologies has also been highlighted.

Furthermore, Alejandro Zurita, Head of Science, Techniology and Innovation division of the EU delegation to Brazil, presented the international cooperacion in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programmes. Also, Mr. Zurita underlined the benefits of the international cooperation in research and Innovation and the changes that the new R&I programme will bring. Moreover, the cooperation between Chile and the European Union was presented.

Ricardo Irarrázabal, undersecretary of Energy, Ministry of Energy of Chile, explained in his presentation that the energy sector is highly vulnerable to climate change and that this vulnerability directly affects people. Also, Mr. Irarrázabal highlighted that in order to mitigate risks and uncertainties an exercise in the sustainability of the industry must be done, since there is no way to force a productive sector to reduce its emissions. Thus it is necessary to have a climate change law that establishes CO₂ as a pollutant.

Moreover, Jenny Mager, Office of Climate Change, Ministry of Environment of Chile, presented a long term view of Chile's NDC on climate change. Moreover, at her presentation she highlighted why Chile is vulnerable to climate change, and presented Chile's main climatic commitments as well as the context of Chile's NDC. Also, the main challenges associated with Chile's NDC were presented, while the need of Long Term Climate Strategies in order to align the NDCs with the objectives set in Paris was emphasized. Finally, the NDC's benefits for Chile were presented and the steps in developing a robust climate strategy were identified. 

Marek Antosiewicz, researcher in TRANSrisk partner Institute for Structural Research (IBS), presented the macroeconomic simulations that IBS conducted for the Chilean economy wihtin the TRANSrisk case study in Chile. Also, Mr. Antosiewicz led a training course on the use of the Mitigation Toolbox prepared by IBS. The Toolbox is an easy to use interface that allows non-experts to run country level macroeconomic simulations using the MEMO model for Chile, Greece and Poland, and will be available for everyone to use at IBS website in a few weeks.

Luis Edwin Gonzales, researcher in CLAPESUC, presented a large-scale macroeconomic model and evidence on energy vulnerability in Chile. Moreover, Mr. Gonzales said that if sustainable development is to be achieved, the path of improving productivity associated with environmental policies will also assist to be prepared in adapting to climate change with less uncertainty and facing social and economic risks.

Finally, Sebastián Vicuña, Director of the Global Change Center of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, presented the challenges of the impacts of climate change in the energy sector in Chile. More particularly, Mr. Vicuna highlighted that the operation of energy systems is intimately linked to weather conditions and the occurrence of extreme events, and consequently the impacts of climate change pose risks and uncertainty for the energy sector.

More information can be found at the respective webpages of CLAPESUC and IBS.