“Although we still have a way to go, this report shows that we are on the right road,” said the Minister of Environment on learning of the results of the study published by Cambridge University Press.

Chile took first place in Latin America in the ranking of the 2020 Sustainable Development Report, written by a team led by economist Jeffrey Sachs and published by Cambridge University Press. In the Report, which analyzes the progress of countries with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda established by the UN, Chile achieved a total score of 77.4 points, ahead of the regional average.

In Latin America, it was followed by Costa Rica (75.1 points), Uruguay (74.3 points) and Ecuador (74.3 points).

Referring to the results, Environment Minister Carolina Schmidt indicated that “we are implementing an agenda that allows us to advance steadily on Chile’s transformation into a low-emission and climate-resilient economy that improves people’s quality of life. Although we still have a way to go, this report shows that we are on the right road.”

Minister Schmidt recalled that the update of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted by the government in April this year reinforces compliance with these indicators. “A Just Transition-Sustainable Development Social Pillar was incorporated as one of the structures of the country’s commitments as regards climate change and its progress, in parallel, on the Sustainable Development Goals,” she stressed.

Globally, Chile ranked 28th out of a total of 193 UN member states, ahead of developed countries such as the United States, Australia and Italy.

The country’s five best average scores were on SDGs 1, 4, 6, 7 and 13, of which the last three (SDG 6 “clean water and sanitation”, SDG 7 “affordable and clean energy” and SDG 13 “climate action” are closely related to the environmental dimension.