Green growth acceleration
Chile received the World Bank’s first-ever global loan to promote green hydrogen and support climate change mitigation efforts. The project seeks to boost investment in green hydrogen projects in Chile to help accelerate green growth and energy transition in the country and support its commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050.
Water resources management
Extensive work has also been done to address the country’s water challenges, a key element of development and resilience, including the approval of a loan to advance Chile’s Just Water Transition program and more sustainable and equitable water resources management.
Emission Reductions Payment
Chile received US$5.1 million from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) for reducing 1.03 million tons of carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This was the first payment under Chile’s Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the FCPF, which provides access to up to US$26 million for reducing 5.2 million tons of emissions.
Disaster preparedness
To provide Chile with financial protection to mitigate potential negative economic impacts of earthquakes and the tsunamis that they generate, the World Bank supported Chile’s issuance of a US$630 million catastrophe bond and swap, its largest single-country transaction. This will provide Chile with readily available funds in the event of a disaster, enabling the country to protect its fiscal budget and reduce the potential need to mobilize debt after an event.
Universal primary health care coverage and resilience
The Program for Universal Primary Health Care Coverage and Resilience will improve the population’s access to high-quality health services through innovative measures aimed at increasing the accessibility, resilience, and efficiency of primary health care. This program will help solidify primary health care as the bedrock of health care service delivery.
The project will be implemented gradually and aims to reach 187 of the country’s 346 communes by the end of 2027. A number of cross-cutting measures will also be implemented for the benefit of all Chileans.
Strengthening of State Universities
The Strengthening of State Universities project, which ended in June 2023, made significant achievements in terms of improvements in quality and equity, despite the difficult situation caused by the pandemic. Third-year dropout rates for the most vulnerable students fell by almost 10 percent from 36.6 percent in 2018 to 26.8 percent in 2022. The number of research projects awarded to these universities and the number of professors with doctorates also increased.
Increased efficiency in the delivery of social benefits
In coordination with the Ministry of Social and Family Development, the World Bank is providing technical assistance to the Local Social Management (GSL) project, a municipal one-stop shop where public officials have access to the various programs and subsidies available and accessible to beneficiaries. This new modality of care, which allows for the delivery of better social care and makes public spending more efficient, is already available in 93 percent of Chile’s municipalities and is expected to achieve universal coverage by 2025.
Together with the Undersecretariat for Children, the World Bank has supported the establishment of Local Offices for Children in more than 80 percent of the country’s communes, offering integrated care and the promotion and protection of the rights of children and adolescents.
The program continues to grow to meet the challenges of the new National Support and Care System (Chile Cuida), through which it is expected to provide services and benefits to nearly 75,000 persons with severe dependency, including the elderly and persons with disabilities, and their caregivers throughout Chile.
The knowledge we have gained by working together with Chile has been shared with several countries around the world that face similar development challenges. In recent years, we have received delegations from every region.
Last Updated: Apr 29, 2025
