Raúl E. O'Ryan

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile · Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias

The importance of science for climate governance has strengthened over time and the topic inspires prolific academic writing on the influence of scientists and scientific knowledge on policy decisions. One of the streams of research in the field is inspired by Cash´s (2003) seminal work highlighting how the role of scientists depends on perceptions...

This document seeks to contribute to society and its decision-makers with the best available scientific evidence on Chile’s Renewable Energy (RE) Export Potential and the opportunities and challenges that such potential opens for Chile’s commitment to carbon neutrality. It also aims to provide a useful input for the dialogues that the country will...

The purpose of this report is therefore to advance in the conceptualization, diagnosis and public policy guidelines for integrated and transformative climate governance of water, air, fire and land in Chile. The aim is to present a state of the art of the existing evidence regarding the challenges posed by climate change for the governance of the e...

Al poner el foco en la Gobernanza Climática de los Elementos (agua, aire, fuego y tierra), buscamos superar esta mirada antropocéntrica, que tiende a concebir a la naturaleza como recurso a explotar o como una fuerza a controlar. En este contexto, adoptamos una comprensión holística de los elementos, entendiéndose estos como “sistemas socio-ecológi...

Medium size developing countries like Chile that commit to decarbonization goals need to carefully assess the trade-o↵s associated to their intensity and timing, since most of the technologies required will be absorbed, not produced, by these countries. A rapid expansion of renewables in the Chilean energy matrix, mostly thanks to exceptional solar...

Dealing with climate change is one of this century's most difficult challenges demanding new strategies to steer societies towards common transformational goals. A growing literature involving “climate governance” is evolving and should advance the discussion on transformations and the involvement of different actors in climate action. However, it...

Over the last decade, a high dependency on carbon-intensive fuels in the Chilean power sector has led to environmental concerns, particularly regarding rapid growth in CO2 emissions. More recently, the power sector has experienced significant structural changes with a rapid expansion of renewables in the energy matrix, and this trend is expected to...

En el siglo XXI, el desarrollo de Chile está en juego debido a las amenazas planteadas por el Antropoceno. Esta época se caracteriza por la influencia humana sobre el sistema terrestre. Sin embargo, si se enfrenta con audacia, ofrece una oportunidad para un desarrollo sostenible. Independientemente de si hemos entrado en una nueva era geológica, el...

Multilateral efforts are essential to an effective response to climate change, but individual nations define climate action policy by translating local and global objectives into adaptation and mitigation actions. We propose a conceptual framework to explore opportunities for polycentric climate governance, understanding polycentricity as a propert...

In this paper, initial steps are presented toward characterizing, quantifying, incorporating and communicating uncertainty applying a probabilistic analysis to countrywide emission baseline forecasts, using Chile as a case study. Most GHG emission forecasts used by regulators are based on bottom-up deterministic approaches. Uncertainty is usually i...

The relationship between scientific knowledge and decision-making surrounding environmental issues is complex and represents a flourishing area of scholarship and practice. However, a sense of frustration persists regarding efforts to increase the use of science for decision-making. Regulations of copper smelter arsenic emissions developed in Chile...

Worldwide, urbanization constitutes a major and growing driver of global change and a distinctive feature of the Anthropocene. Thus, urban development paths present opportunities for technological and societal transformations towards energy efficiency and decarbonization, with benefits for both greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollution mitigation. Thi...

Thermal energy storage systems (TES) are a key component of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants that generally use a NaNO3/KNO3 mixture also known as solar salt as a thermal storage material. Improvements in TES materials are important to lower CSP costs, increase energy efficiency and competitiveness with other technologies. A novel alternative...

Publicación de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) que busca comprender los determinantes de la ecoinnovación en las empresas latinoamericanas, así como las principales políticas e instrumentos para impulsarla en el marco de la producción verde.

The improvement of solar thermal technologies in emerging economies like Chile is particularly attractive because the country is endowed with one of the most consistently high solar potentials, lithium and copper reserves. In recent years, growing interests for lithium based salts and copper foams in application of thermal technologies could change...

Abstract The international community ,has been negotiating the reduction of greenhouse ,gas (GHG) emissions since 1992. Greenhouse gas increases are greatest in the transport sectors – in almost all countries of the world, so the evolution of this sector will ultimately determine the success of these efforts. Chile and its capital city, Santiago, a...

This paper undertakes a quantitative analysis of the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of different trade agreements for Chile. A dynamic general equilibrium model is used to compare the consequences of unilateral liberalization and trade agreements with the European Union (EU) and the United States (USA). The results show that economic gains...

Chile has committed to meeting its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015. Over the last two decades, the country made great progress towards these goals, possibly more than any other country in Latin America.

Using probabilistic analysis may be very useful for risk management in developing countries, where information, resources, and technical expertise are often scarce. Currently, most regulatory agencies recommend using deterministic approaches for the analysis of problems relating to decision-making. However, this approach does not incorporate uncert...

Chile is one of the few countries that faces the environmental challenge posed by extensive arsenic pollution, which exists in the northern part of the country. Chile has worked through various options to appropriately address the environmental challenge of arsenic pollution of water and air. Because of cost and other reasons, copying standards use...

Oil price increases and the restrictions to natural gas imports from Argentina generate multiple effects which ripple throughout the Chilean economy. The magnitude of the aggregate, sectoral and distributive impacts associated with these changes in the energy sector is debated. In this paper, using a static general equilibrium framework, we analyze...

The ambient permit system proposed in the literature for cost-effective pollution reduction is difficult to implement and may result in lower net benefits than using another instrument. The article develops a model for comparing the environmental net benefits of three policy instruments for Santiago, Chile, when the policy problem is to meet a give...

Chile ratified the Montreal Protocol in 1990 which sets out an agenda for the reduction and then elimination of ozone depleting substances (ODS); however, by 1998 the country had not yet defined a strategy to encourage greater compliance, so that in the same year the National Environmental Commission decided to examine the policy options available....

This paper develops a conceptual model to analyze how specific factors affect the compliance costs of three suboptimal policy instruments, when compared to the optimal ambient permit system (APS) benchmark. The model considers a non-uniformly mixed pollutant and explicitly incorporates the following factors: number of polluting sources; size, in te...

The analysis of the linkages between development policies and social and environmental variables is a neglected area within the development literature. This paper focuses on the key interrelations among the economic, social and environmental elements of the sustainable development triangle. A thorough review is undertaken of both social and environ...

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are a powerful economic tool for multidimensional/multi-sectoral analysis. They improve traditional input-output analysis generating quantities and prices endogenously and reflecting market incentives. They complement partial equilibrium analysis with a broader scope of analysis and the quantification of...

En la UE se ha estimado que los costes de la congesti�n representan el 2% de su PIB y que el coste de la poluci�n del aire y ruido supera el 0,6% del PIB, siendo alrededor del 90% de los mismos ocasionados por el transporte terrestre. Ante este hecho y el continuo aumento de la demanda del transporte privado frente al p�blico para los desplazamient...

This chapter analyses the economic and environmental effects of removing oil-product and coal subsidies in Chile applying the computable general equilibrium model, ECOGEM-Chile. Two policies are analysed: the actual removal of a coal subsidy in 1995 in Chile and the hypothetical removal of an implicit subsidy to oil prices between 1999 and 2000. Th...

Los modelos de equilibrio general computable (EGC) son una poderosa herramienta para el análisis multidimensional/ multisectorial. Mejoran el análisis tradicional de insumo-producto, al generar cantidades y precios en forma endógena y reflejar incentivos de mercado. Complementan el análisis de equilibrio parcial con un ámbito más amplio para el est...

Cost-effective policies allow minimizing the compliance costs associated to reaching a desired environmental quality target. However cost reductions associated to the use of these policies are not always significant. In this paper a conceptual model is developed to analyze explicitly the interaction among the factors that determine the compliance c...

Los mercados de los commodities, entre los que se incluye el cobre, han tendido en forma creciente a concentrarse en estos últimos años. Como resultado, se está pasando a un esquema de gigantes especializados y dominantes en sus productos específicos. En cobre, CODELCO, que sigue siendo la principal empresa productora de cobre del mundo, ha visto s...

This paper applies two recently developed trading algorithms to a water quality trading (WQT) market located in the Cub River sub-basin of Utah; a market that includes both point and nonpoint sources. The algorithms account for three complications that naturally arise in WQT markets: (1) combinatorial matching of traders, (2) trader heterogeneity,...

Successful economic growth followed by Chile, based on open market and export strategy, is characterised by a high dependence on natural resources, and by polluting production and consumption patterns. There is an increasing concern about the need to make potentially significant trade-offs between economic growth and environmental improvements. Add...

A partir de 1990 se introdujo en Santiago un sistema de compensación de emisiones para controlar las emisiones de PM-10 de fuentes fijas, en principio equivalente a un sistema de permisos de emisión (EPS), instrumento económico subóptimo. Se buscaba con este sistema reducir los costos de cumplimiento e impedir el crecimiento de las emisiones de fue...

Chile is a lightly populated country of 15 million that has undergone large economic transformations. Over the past 25 years, the economy has evolved from a slow-growing state-directed economy into a fast growing, market-oriented economy. Its South American neighbors are imitating this transformation. The changes have been especially great in the t...

In this paper the vulnerability of Chile's forestry trade to environmental threats is explored. The increasing concern for the environment by consumers, together with the life cycle approach to products has created a new context for forest exploitation. The new trend in consumer based voluntary instruments, requiring an increasing use of eco-labels...

Most developing countries are just beginning to takeenvironmental protection seriously. In some cases it is common tocopy regulations from developed countries; however, determininghow much protection is required is difficult, ideally requiringthat the costs and risks be considered to propose a realistic andeffective policy. Chile has serious proble...

En el presente trabajo se discute el problema de la contaminaci�n atmosf�rica en Santiago y de los esfuerzos en marcha para su soluci�n, representados formalmente por el Plan de Prevenci�n y Descontaminaci�n de la Regi�n Metropolitana (PPDA). A modo de introducci�n se definen t�rminos y conceptos utilizados en el PPDA, los cuales son de uso frecuen...

El uso del an�lisis probabil�stico puede ser muy �til para la gesti�n de riesgos en pa�ses en desarrollo, donde la informaci�n, recursos y la especializaci�n t�cnica es a menudo escasa. Actualmente, la mayor�a de las agencias regulatorias en el mundo recomiendan el uso de los enfoques determin�sticos para el an�lisis de los problemas relacionados c...

En este documento de trabajo se presenta una metodolog�a para regular sustancias t�xicas atmosf�ricas en Chile. Esta metodolog�a se basa en la experiencia internacional existente en la materia, acondicionada a la realidad chilena. El punto central que se destaca es que dada la complexidad en la regulaci�n de sustancias t�xicas, las altas incertidum...

Flexible instruments are preferred over command and control to regulate environmental problems since they allow sources to reduce the costs of compliance. Usually, flexibility is synonym to market based incentives (MBI's): tradeable permits or emission fees. However, when regulating many different facilities that emit a toxic substance, each impact...

El sistema de transporte urbano genera una diversidad de impactos ambientales: en la calidad del aire a nivel local, sobre problemas ambientales globales, de ruido, de uso de recursos y otros. La forma en que las ciudades se organizan para enfrentar la creciente demanda de por viajes determinar� su sustentabilidad ambiental, es decir si en el media...

Los pa�ses en desarrollo est�n, por lo general, en una etapa incipiente en cuanto a regulaciones ambientales. Chile no es una excepci�n, y en la actualidad la contaminaci�n por ars�nico proveniente de las fundiciones de cobre es un problema serio. Para regular estas emisiones se ha propuesto un est�ndar de concentraci�n aplicable a todo el pa�s. Si...

This paper applies two recently developed trading algorithms to a water quality trading (WQT) market located in the Cub River sub-basin of Utah; a market that includes both point and nonpoint sources. The algorithms account for three complications that naturally arise in WQT markets: (1) combinatorial matching of traders, (2) trader heterogeneity,...

Chile has grown at an annual rate of 7% over the past decade. Income distribution, however, deteriorated for the poor and middle class before the economy reached full capacity, when real wages began to rise and unemployment to fall. Growth has been export-led, putting pressure on stocks of native forests and fishery and mining resources. Environmen...

This paper presents the bases for the design of a systemic management system for air quality in Santiago. The system proposed was developed through a novel participative methodology called Innovative Development, that required the participation of all the actors of the systems. As a result, an action map that provides systematic and action oriented...

La creciente preocupaci�n en pa�ses desarrollados por el medio ambiente se ha utilizado como excusa para entrabar la importaci�n de productos que compiten con aquellos de producci�n local. Por ello en este trabajo se examinan las amenazas que enfrenta Chile, y en particular el sector minero, por este motivo. Se discute en primer t�rmino las nuevas...

Arsenic found in drinking water sources in northern Chile is mainly of natural origin due to the hydrological characteristics of the area, and the predominance of Quaternary volcanism. Water treatment plants in northern Chile remove arsenic by a coagulation process, bringing levels of this contaminant in the treated water down to around 0.04 mgl-1....

Current practice in the control of urban air pollution concentrates on reducing emissions from both fixed and mobile sources directly, without consideration of the fact that (i) zonal restrictions and relocalization of activities -both directly polluting activities such as industrial sources and transport generating activities- affect emissions, an...

Oil price increases and the restrictions to natural gas imports from Argentina generate multiple effects which ripple throughout the Chilean economy. The magnitude of the aggregate, sectoral, distributive and environmental impacts associated with these changes in the energy sector is debated. In this paper, using a static general equilibrium framew...

El escenario de alzas en el precio del petróleo y de sus derivados genera diversos efectos que se transmiten a toda la economía chilena. Lo anterior junto con la restricción a la importación de gas natural desde Argentina plantea interrogantes sobre la magnitud de los efectos agregados, sectoriales y distributivos de estos cambios energéticos. Este...

"December 1993." Thesis (Ph. D. in Economics)--University of California, Berkeley, 1993. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-245).

Beginning in 1990 a compensation system for PM-10 emissions from point sources was implemented in Santiago, equivalent to a suboptimal emission permit system (EPS). The objective of the system was to reduce compliance costs and to prevent emissions from new sources, forcing them to compensate all emissions with existing sources. The system basicall...