Climate Change Overview

Country Summary

This page presents high-level information for Chile's climate zones and its seasonal cycle for mean temperature and precipitation for the latest climatology, 1991-2020. Climate zone classifications are derived from the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, which divides climates into five main climate groups divided based on seasonal precipitation and temperature patterns. The five main groups are A (tropical), B (dry), C (temperate), D (continental), and E (polar). All climates except for those in the E group are assigned a seasonal precipitation sub-group (second letter).  Climate classifications are identified by hovering your mouse over the legend. A narrative overview of Chile's country context and climate is provided following the visualizations.

Chile is located in western South America, with a total land area of 2,006,096 square kilometers (km2) and is neighbored by Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean, with coasts that extend over 8,000 km. Chile experiences a wide-ranging topography and its area extends across the western and southern part of South America, spreads in to the oceanic region via Easter Island, and extends south towards Antarctica. Chile’s has four macro-bioclimates: tropical, Mediterranean, temperate, and antiborealis, which are produced primarily due to the country’s latitude and altitude. Within these climates are a diverse 127 terrestrial ecosystems, with 96 marine ecosystems along the country’s coast. Chile experiences mostly dry southern hemisphere summers (November and January) and wet winters (May and August). 29.21% of the land area does not have vegetation, 38.74% of the land is grassland and scrub, 25.55% is forest, 4.57% is agricultural land; only 0.75% of the Chile’s area is urban or industrial.

Chile is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with key sectors such as fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, agriculture and livestock, and the country’s water resources identified as vulnerable sectors. Chile’s Third National Communication on Climate Change (NC3) (2016) also includes energy, infrastructure, cities, and tourism as additional important sections. Chile submitted its Initial Nationally Determined Contribution in 2015 and its Updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2020. Through these documents, Chile has confirmed its commitment to climate actions and support to international climate agreements and identified key mitigation and adaptation efforts. Chile is also working to increase the country’s resilience by improving water management and sanitation, and its disaster risk management, identified through its National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (2014). Chile’s Updated NDC highlights sectoral plans for key sectors, identifying financing sources to implement sectoral plans, build synergies between adaptation and mitigation, strengthen institutional capacity on adaptation, and prepare metrics to evaluate sectoral planning.