Problem

Chile’s southern and central regions, cold climates and reliance on inefficient wood and kerosene heating contribute to high household energy use, health burdens from indoor air pollution, and significant local emissions. Low-income households living in poorly insulated dwellings face elevated heating costs and respiratory health risks. The fragmented supply of retrofits, limited technical guidance for widespread insulation upgrades, and the need to adapt solutions to local construction types make scaling a national retrofit programme challenging. Procuring consistent quality work that reaches remote communities and small contractors while ensuring affordability requires central coordination, technical standards and targeted subsidies. 

Response

Chile’s Ministry of Housing and Urbanism (MINVU) is running, since 2018, national programmes and subsidies for thermal conditioning (Acondicionamiento Térmico) that finance insulation, improved windows and doors, and other exterior building fabric improvements targeted at vulnerable households. MINVU publishes technical solution catalogues and eligibility rules, and channels funds through municipal offices to reach beneficiaries. The programme aims to reduce thermal losses, lower household energy consumption and pollution from inefficient heating. And at the same time, it also aims to generate demand for local SMEs capable of delivering retrofit works. Evaluations and technical briefs indicate improved indoor comfort, reduced consumption of polluting fuels and economic savings for households. By standardising constructive solutions and providing subsidies, Chile’s approach demonstrates how national policy can support scalable, people-centred decarbonisation in residential housing, while strengthening local contractor capacity and delivering health co-benefits. 

Find out more: Energy Magazine, MINVU