Current Situation

Emissions profile

Forests cover about two-thirds of Peru’s territory. Emissions from the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector represented the largest portion (51%) of Peru’s overall emissions in 2014, based on a national emissions inventory. The LULUCF emissions are mainly due to deforestation. The energy sector is the country’s second largest emitter, accounting for 26% of total emissions. Transport is the largest individual contributor to the energy sector emissions followed by the power sector.

In the last official GHG inventory year (2014), Peru’s deforestation rate grew by 80% compared to 2001, contributing to the high proportion of LULUCF emissions in the 2014 total.¹ However, current policy projections are estimated to increase by 23% by 2030 compared to 2015 levels.² Increasing the share of renewable energy in the power sector and incentivising the use of zero-emission modes of transport are key policies to drive emissions reductions.

Graph description

Historical emissions per gas and per sector. Last available LULUCF data point from 2014

Data References
- PRIMAP-Hist 2019. Energy sub-sectors emissions based on the IEA CO2 Fuel 2019. Inventory year: 2017.
- LULUCF emissions: latest available data as reported by the Climate Action Tracker 2020 update.

Energy system

Fossil fuels made up 75% of Peru’s total energy supply in 2018.³ The majority of this share comes from oil used for fossil fuel vehicles in the transport sector. Fossil gas produced 28% of the total energy supply.⁴

In the power sector, roughly 60% of Peru’s electricity is already generated from renewable sources, with hydropower being the main renewable energy source with a 55% share.⁵ However, natural gas still accounted for 38% of the power production in 2017. Peruvian government has not set a phase-out date for fossil gas.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) in particular is being promoted in the country, with increasing usage in the transport and residential energy sectors through projects financed by the government and the Peruvian Development Bank.⁶^,⁷ The government of Peru sees improving access to fossil gas as a key step to increasing social inclusion and reducing energy poverty in rural areas.⁸^,⁹ However, the continued development of fossil gas in the country brings high risk of stranded assets and a lock-in of emitting technologies in the future.

Targets and commitments

Economy-wide targets

Target type

Fixed level target

NDC target

Unconditional NDC Target:

Absolute emissions limit of 208.8 MtCO₂e/yr by 2030 (incl. LULUCF).
Equivalent to 123 MtCO₂e/yr by 2030 (excl. LULUCF)[39] or 23% above 2015 levels.

Conditional NDC Target:

Absolute emissions limit of 179 MtCO₂e/yr by 2030 (incl. LULUCF).
Equivalent to 107 MtCO₂e/yr by 2030 (excl. LULUCF) or 5% above 2015 levels.

Long-term target

Peru has announced its intent to achieve net zero GHG, by 2050. As of January 2023, the Government of Peru has not yet submitted a Long Term Strategy to the UNFCCC.

Sectoral targets

Energy

In its Copenhagen pledge, Peru set a target to reach 33% renewable energy in its total energy supply by 2020.¹⁰

Power

The Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines has set a target of reaching 15% renewable electricity production from non-hydro renewable sources, such as wind and solar, by 2030.¹¹

Buildings

The NAMA for Sustainable Construction aims to reduce water consumption in buildings by 30–40% and energy consumption by 30–50% by 2030.¹²

Waste

The NAMA Solid Waste aims to reduce waste sector emissions by 2.4 MtCO₂e/yr in 2030 through improving recycling, composting and the use of methane from waste facilities for energy.¹³

Agriculture

In Peru’s 2019 biennial report to the UNFCCC, the country indicated several ongoing NAMAs for the agricultural sector focused on reducing emissions from the cultivation of cocoa, coffee and oil palm, and keeping livestock. The mitigation potential from these measures is still being calculated.¹⁴

LULUCF

In 2010, Peru set a target of reaching zero deforestation in the country by 2021.¹⁵ It did not meet this target.
Peru’s National Forest Conservation Program includes a new target to conserve 10 million hectares of community owned forests by 2030, which would translate to reducing the current deforestation rate by 30%.¹⁶

Reuters Staff. Peru says deforestation on the rise, up 80 percent from 2001. Reuters (2014). ↩
Climate Action Tracker. Peru: Country Summary. (2020). ↩
International Energy Agency (IEA). Peru: Total energy supply (TES) by source. (2020). ↩
International Energy Agency (IEA). Peru: Total energy supply (TES) by source. (2020). ↩
International Energy Agency. Peru: Electricity generation by source. (2020). ↩
Banco del Desarrollo de Perú (COFIDE). Prácticas e instrumentos financieros para promover la descarbonización de la movilidad urbana. (2019). ↩
COFIDE. KfW y COFIDE firman acuerdo de préstamo por 250 millones de euros para Programa “Covid 19: Programa de Reactivación Verde”. (2020). ↩
Organismo Supervisor de Inversión en Energía y Minería (OSINERGMIN)- Perú. La industria del gas natural en el Perú a diez años del Proyecto Camisea. vol. 51 (2017). ↩
El Congreso de la República de Perú. LEY No 29969: Ley que dicta disposiciones a fin de promover la masificación del gas natural. El Peruano vol. 23 32 (El Congreso de la Repúblic de Perú, 2012). ↩
COFIDE. KfW y COFIDE firman acuerdo de préstamo por 250 millones de euros para Programa “Covid 19: Programa de Reactivación Verde”. (2020). ↩
Ministerio de Energía y Minas Peru. Minem: al cierre del último año se ejecutaron 49 proyectos de energías renovables en el Perú. (2021). ↩
Ministerio del Ambiente- Perú. Segundo Informe Bienal de Actualización ante la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático. (2019). ↩
Ministerio del Ambiente- Perú. Segundo Informe Bienal de Actualización ante la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático. (2019). ↩
Ministerio del Ambiente- Perú. Segundo Informe Bienal de Actualización ante la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático. (2019). ↩
Government of Peru. Peruvian submission to the UNFCCC under the Copenhagen accord. (2010). ↩
Ministry of Environment of Peru. Programa Bosques del Minam proyecta conservar 10 millones de hectáreas de bosques comunales hacia el 2030. (2020). ↩

What is Peru's pathway to limit global warming to 1.5°C?