With the U.S. off the climate stage, Latin America is ready to lead
María Teresa Ruiz-Tagle, Executive Director, CLG-Chile, shares why Latin America is ready to lead—and what it needs from COP30
November 12 - The United States, once a driving force behind the Paris Agreement, has once again exited the Paris Agreement and is doubling down on fossil-fuel production. This sharp reversal under the Trump Administration underscores that the rest of the world can no longer afford to hinge its climate ambitions on U.S. domestic politics.
Instead, new centers of gravity are emerging. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a powerful story is unfolding, one of ambitious climate action, grounded in real progress. With a cleaner energy mix than most regions, and growing momentum in renewables, green hydrogen, and corporate climate commitments, countries like Brazil and Chile are stepping up.
At COP30 in Brazil, Latin American business leaders are no longer asking whether to lead. They are asking how to scale. That is why we, a network of Latin American businesses, are using this opportunity at COP30 to call on governments to reaffirm their commitment to triple renewables by 2030.
The region already uses more renewable energy proportionally than any other in the world, with clean sources accounting for 60% of its electricity generation, double the global average. And this trend is not slowing down. The region’s installed utility-scale wind and solar capacity is projected to reach about 319 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, reflecting a massive expansion.
Brazil, as the host of COP30, is championing the need for climate financing focused on adaptation, loss and damage. With one of the cleanest energy matrices in the world, Brazil is leveraging its vast experience in biofuels and hydropower to lead by example.
Even more striking is the case of my home country, Chile. The country is a prime example of the region's solar boom, which is on track to become Latin America's primary source of electricity by the 2040s. Blessed with some of the world's most intense solar radiation in the Atacama desert, it's not uncommon for renewables to account for nearly 70% of Chile's monthly electricity generation.
Chile’s leadership in energy storage is also beginning to set a regional benchmark. According to a recent OLADE report, as of June 2025, Latin America has around 2.5 GW of installed storage capacity, with Chile accounting for over 1,000 megawatts (MW), the highest in the region by far.
This reflects a deliberate strategy to pair renewable expansion with grid stability and flexibility. Chile has moved early to integrate storage into its planning instruments, promote hybrid generation-plus-storage projects and define regulatory frameworks that enable deployment at scale.
As countries grapple with the variability of solar and wind, Chile’s experience can offer lessons on how to operationalize storage as a pillar of energy transition. At COP30, recognizing and replicating this kind of policy-anchored innovation could help Latin America present itself not only as a region rich in resources, but in solutions.
But Chile’s ambition doesn’t stop there. The country has launched a globally recognized National Green Hydrogen Strategy, positioning itself within a region that has immense potential to become a key player in global clean hydrogen markets. By strategically forging international partnerships, Chile is providing a clear roadmap for how developing nations can lead the energy transition.
It is time for Latin America to set itself a shared political challenge: advancing a regional agenda for electrification. With one of the cleanest electricity mixes in the world, the region is uniquely positioned to replace fossil fuel use in transport, industry and buildings with renewable electricity.
Doing so would unlock deeper emissions cuts, reduce energy import dependence and catalyze green industrial development. A regional commitment to electrification, framed as a common ambition, could become one of Latin America’s most powerful contributions at COP30, showing how developing economies can lead not only in mitigation targets, but in implementation pathways grounded in structural transformation.
I am the executive director of Corporate Leaders Group for Climate Action (CLG), Chile, a network of businesses committed to advancing Chile's sustainable development and the transition to a low-carbon economy
We see COP30 as a pivotal moment to demonstrate Latin America’s capacity to align private sector leadership with national and regional climate goals. Our members, which are key actors in energy, mining, finance, retail and infrastructure, are not only investing in clean technologies, but actively engaging in policy dialogues.
We are supporting regulatory frameworks such as carbon pricing, and contributing to the design of long-term strategies that connect climate action with sustainable development.
Latin America is ready to lead, but we need COP30 to deliver several enabling conditions: fully operationalize Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, provide financing instruments tailored to emerging economies, and establish stronger platforms for public-private cooperation.
Whatever path countries choose, they need regulatory clarity, long-term signals, and predictable frameworks in order to translate ambition into action.