ACCIÓN Clima Present at LACCW in RTH Panama Panel Discussion

The panel discussion was attended by Ricardo Herrera, coordinator of the RTH Products - Carbon Program of the Ministry of Environment of Panama; Marta Pérez de Madrid, GIZ Costa Rica advisor and coordinator of the Hub for Innovation, Climate and Biodiversity; Paula Londoño, Corporate & Public Affairs manager of Nestlé Central America and the coordinator of the Community of Practice on Public-Private Articulation for Climate Action in Latin America (ArticuLAC), Ana María Majano.

Pérez de Madrid said that the Hub facilitates innovation and the exchange of experiences for the implementation of NDCs in the region. Therefore, this event generated a dialogue between the public and private sectors on the challenges and opportunities of emissions management from the life cycle analysis of products and the role of the private sector and the government in the transformation towards decarbonization.

Herrera reported on the start-up of a pioneering pilot of the RTH-Carbon Products Program, which will be applied to the production of coffee for export with the participation of several companies in the coffee sector in Panama.

"Efficiency in the implementation of mitigation measures is a trilateral task between the government that administers the program, the private company that is the user of the program and its suppliers, whether they are large, small or medium-sized companies that are involved in this quantification process," said Herrera of MiAmbiente Panama.

In this regard, Majano stressed that the articulation between governments and the private sector is essential to align private efforts with the country's strategies.

In addition, Londoño highlighted that Nestlé has a decarbonization strategy that plans significant efforts to reduce emissions throughout its value chain to become a company with zero net emissions in 2050. In this regard, she highlighted the need and challenge of involving agricultural producers in carbon footprint reduction commitments.

Regarding innovation, an important factor in any mitigation process, the participants agreed that it must be present in all processes in order to move towards a decarbonization pathway, involving all the parties mentioned from the beginning of production to delivery to the end consumer, as well as using communities of practice to promote learning and the exchange of experiences.