When I first started working with the Foundation in 2015,
it's over five years now, an immediate realisation I had is
that the starting point to talk about circular economy, is very
different. So in Europe, basically the resources scarcity
was an important aspect, an important trigger to talk about
it. Here in Latin America and the Caribbean region, it's
actually the opposite. We talk about a circular economy in the
the most resource abundant regions in the world and the
most biodiverse one. So it's, but also it is very reliant on
the extractive linear models and the extractive industries. And
hence, what happened in the in the last centuries, is that the
region didn't really sustain economic growth, it didn't add
much value to the region's natural resources. And it also
didn't successfully distribute the wealth in the society. So
when we talk about a circular economy here, it remains an
important solutions framework to some of the biggest challenges
of our times like climate crises, the loss of
biodiversity, waste and pollution. It still needs to
have a design approach, one that concentrates effort in the
upstream solution, and based on the same principles of
eliminating waste and pollution, of keeping materials and
products in use and regenerating natural systems. But I think
what really adds value to the Latin American and Caribbean
continent is about creating and adding value, regenerative value
to its abundant natural resources. It is about the very
important and core aspect of a circular economy, which is to
create a resilient and distributed and diverse and
inclusive economy that will create prosperity to all in the
long term.
How do we regenerate natural systems and circulate value in
one of the most resource abundant regions in the world.
The Foundation's Louisa Santiago who's part of our team there at
Latin America talks about a different starting point for the
region, but still driven by those three principles and all
underpinned by design. In this video, we're going to hear a lot
more about the circular economy in Latin America. And we're also
going to hear about the recently launched Latin America and
Caribbean circular economy coalition, which aims to create
alignment and a joined up vision for countries across the region.
Next up, we'll hear from Rose the Director of the UN's Climate
Technology Centre and Networks or CTCN, who will talk about
their experience of working with countries in the region on their
circular economy strategies and their learnings from it. And
then we'll hear from Rolando Castro, the Vice Minister for
Environment and Energy in Costa Rica, and he'll talk about the
national decarbonisation plan in Costa Rica and the circular
economy's role within it.
So starting 2018, it was very interesting for us to see
countries in the Latin American region coming to us requesting
for support on their circular economy. So by 2019, we had
finalised the initial discussions with the first four
or five countries to start supporting them. And what
countries really wanted was a comprehensive approach. So if
they wanted to start off with a roadmap to really understand
what a future of circularity would look like in countries,
where are the options, what are the obstacles and challenges we
currently face and how could we possibly deal with them? What
kind of partnerships should we have both public and private
sector to enhance our circularity work? And of course,
most importantly, what we do at the CTCN, what kind of
technologies would we need to build a very successful and
effective circular industry across all sectors in the Latin
American region. And I think my colleagues have mentioned
something extremely important. Latin America is extremely
resource rich, and the level of extraction is intense. A lot of
this extraction has remained exactly at that level, with
varying degrees of industrialization and production
in countries. But largely, the volume of wealth and extraction
in the continent is not reflected at all in the level of
industrialization. And so one of the things we are learning as we
walk into countries are developing a circular economies
is how to literally leapfrog as it were, go into
industrialization based off of rich resource availability into
a systems production that is circular. I think there's a real
opportunity there.
Yes, Costa Rica launched it's decarbonisation plan in February
2019. And it's a very ambitious plan to decarbonize our economy
by 2050. Even though Costa Rica has done important achievements
in terms of electricity, for instance, we have a electricity
matrix that is based on renewable energy almost 100%.
And also we were able to stop deforestation. We also have a
lot of challenges in terms of contributions to the CO2
emissions, for instance, transportations, industry,
agriculture, land development, construction, and so on. So the
decarbonisation plan sets goals for all these important topics.
And we are trying to do measures in the short term, in the middle
And it's interesting, because obviously, yes, the context of
term, and in the long term, in order to decarbonize our
economy. And for this, circular economy it's a very important
approach for the country in order to use the resources
wisely, to reduce waste, and also to reactivate our economy
in a post-Covid era. But do it in a green way, in a sustainable
way. And I think this is how decarbonisation and circular
economy are two feet in order to walk this important path of
decarbonisation
Costa Rica is that you, I think you have, it's true that you're
nearly 100%, your electricity is nearly 100% powered by renewable
energy. And for many people when they think about climate goals
and climate change, energy is the picture, right, it's well,
okay so your 100% renewables great, you're done. And what the
ambition of Costa Rica says is actually that's just part of the
way, that's part of the story. There's also this industry
picture, and that's where circular economy plays in.
Exactly, now, we have that competitive advantage, I would
say, of having this electric matrix that is clean, but then
we can do is we can impact other areas of the economy, such as
transportation, we can electrify our transportation, because we
import the fossil fuels. And we have clean energy that is
produced in Costa Rica. So we can also impact positively our
economy. And also we can electrify our industry. So that
would reduce the CO2 emissions, but also, it will reduce the
cost of this industry. So we are aiming for a green reactivation
of the economy in a post-Covid era.
So we heard from Rose at CTCN on the opportunity that Latin
America has to systemically switch its models of
industrialization, and from Rolando in Costa Rica, about the
role of circular economy in helping them to manage their
economic recovery and meet climate goals. Next up, we're
gonna hear a bit more about this Latin America and Caribbean
circular economy coalition. We'll be speaking to Adriana
from the UN Environment Programme, and she'll be talking
about how did the coalition come about, and who are some of the
actors involved?
I was talking actually, with my colleagues that I'm sharing the
panel with today. I was talking to Nicole from the Konrad
Adenauer Foundation, and she was telling me on the study, they
were doing a mapping circular economy policies. That same day
I talked to Luisa and she's telling me about another study
that they wanted to start and it was so interlinked. And that
same week, UNIDO was organising the circular economy forum for
the southern continent and I say, oh God, we are doing too
much, too many things we are duplicating and I say and this
is when this idea of the coalition came and I say we need
to do a condition we need to join forces. And that's how I
started to contact each of the partners. So CTCN for example,
we were already working with them in some of the countries
they are supporting. Then the IDB was supporting the Alliance,
the Pacific Alliance on plastics. Ellen MacArthur as I
mentioned, and we wrote the coalition, now with UNIDO and
the Word Economic Forum. I will was very happy to see really
that all these eight institutions were keen
incorporating, nobody was defending the agenda or saying
no. So on the contrary, we said it makes sense really to bring
together all our resources, our expertise in avoiding
duplications, and really making a bigger impact and offer to the
country's a more coherent a policy support. So to make this
story short, we all came together and made a concept note
for the coalition that was presented, at the Regional Forum
of Ministers of Environment here in Latin America and the
Caribbean. So we brought this proposal like what about if we
create this regional coalition on circular economy? And I was
very happy to see that countries said yes, the first thing is yes
we need a platform where we can exchange knowledge among
countries in the region, and maybe the ones such as Chile,
Colombia, Ecuador, and that had already their strategies can
share that with other countries. The second request was we need
to have an own vision. What is circular economy Latin America?
As Luisa said, it's the region with the mega biodiversity, are
we using that I mean, a region with an extractive economy. So
what does it mean? What are our opportunities, challenges? And
the third message, what was really interesting and coming
from the Caribbean was circular economy has to look at the
region and not only national territories, because at the end
of the day, for countries, in particular in the Caribbean,
that also has implications of cooperation, trade, etc. So here
is when the countries gave us a green light and said, yes, do
that. And then during 2020 last year, we will really coming
together in doing the tours. And the last thing just to say
bringing champion countries because we want this coalition
to be driven by countries and responding to their priority. So
that was when we were very happy to have now in the steering
committee, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Peru.
So Latin America is a resource abundant region. And as Luisa
said, it does need a different starting point for the circular
economy. But this is still fundamentally about designing
differently from the outset and those three core principles
eliminate waste and pollution, keep products in use and
regenerate natural systems. And there's an opportunity we've
heard there's an opportunity in the region to use circular
economy to help to stimulate economic recovery, to meet
climate goals and to ensure sustainable development. We hope
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