Opportunities for the global climate development agenda with Net Zero in the horizon: A perspective from Central America

Net Zero pledges have become the most prominent expression of political and business commitment to climate action in the 2020s. The article examines the relevance of this policy framework within the diverse context of Central American countries, which exemplify the varied experiences of middle-income economies outside the G20. The countries in the region have crafted long-term strategies and short-term policies amid rising climate ambition under significant capability gaps and the unfulfilled promises of climate development finance. This Perspective calls on the earth system governance community to draw on evidence from a larger and more diverse set of local circumstances to define expectations of climate target setting and the integration of carbon removal into climate policy. The article highlights the continued relevance of issues like capacity gap, for instance, to complete GHG inventories or to establish a carbon removal policy. But also the importance of past failures of the climate regime, notably the unfulfilled promises of finance under the Kyoto Protocol, which continue to influence policy debates in Central America.