Monthly Newsletter: Environmental Challenges 2023

The year 2023 began with announcements of regulatory changes in environmental matters that pose challenges and opportunities for Costa Rican companies.  First, we find new regulatory initiatives that are seeking to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic, imposing greater duties to producers and marketers of such products, such as ensuring that they have a percentage of recycled material or even being part of the chain of recovery of such products.  

Another important environmental challenge for companies will be the need for greater transparency on the environmental impacts of their products. This trend is being led by the European Union (EU), which already has draft legislation well underway to ensure that agricultural products imported into the EU have not been the result of deforestation. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, better known as the SEC, is working on an ambitious regulatory project to require publicly traded companies to report on their carbon footprint and that of their subsidiaries located in the rest of the world.  

A third challenge is a trend toward increasing protected areas and reducing the areas available for economic activities. The international 30x30 target, which aims to have 30% of the planet's surface under some biodiversity protection scheme by 2030, means that companies must be more aware of the environmental implications of their economic activities and seek ways to operate in a sustainable manner. 

Undoubtedly the entry into force in 2022 of the General Law on Water Resources and its implementation through regulations during the year will pose the main challenge for companies in 2023. This new regulation, unprecedented in our country, is prompting us to look for opportunities to make more conscious use of water resources and a consequent reduction in its consumption. Initiatives such as reuse and rainwater harvesting for industrial use are two options in the face of the new regulation, as is an implementation of a fee for water use for industrial purposes. 

The entry into operation of the Salvadoran Water Association (ASA) and the issuance of new regulations add to the challenge of water resource management, now from the point of view of wastewater generation with the entry into force of the general guidelines for wastewater discharge from the water subsector for industrial, agroindustrial, recreational, and other purposes, establishing the obligation to request wastewater discharge permits from the ASA, continue with the existing obligation to treat all wastewater from all industrial, agroindustrial, recreational, and other activities, as well as to implement operation, maintenance, and maintenance programs for all wastewater from industrial, agroindustrial, recreational, and other activities; and to implement programs for the operation, maintenance, and improvement of treatment facilities. This regulation establishes the obligation to promote the circular economy of water, monitor and prevent activities from endangering or damaging the balance of the water ecosystem, and implement spill risk prevention programs and protocols for emergency situations. 

Companies face the main challenges of sustaining natural resources, obtaining the expected economic development, and generating jobs. In Nicaragua, the balance of these three elements is advanced through Law 217, General Law on the Environment and Natural Resources, which establishes in Article 3 that the objectives of the Law are:  

1) The prevention, regulation, and control of any causes or activities that originate deterioration of the environment and contamination of ecosystems. 

2) To establish the means, forms, and opportunities for rational exploitation of natural resources within a National Planning based on sustainable development, with equity and social justice within the country's cultural diversity. 

Our legislation recognizes and executes through the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, the so-called Environmental Evaluation system for authorizations and permits, which provides a classification according to the environmental impact in accordance with the commercial activities of each company operating in the country. In addition to an operating permit, companies must a) maintain the controls and recommendations established for the execution or performance of an activity; b) assume any administrative, civil, or criminal responsibilities for damages they may cause to the environment; and c) observe the provisions established in the special rules and regulations in force. Therefore, green development faces challenges that require an adequate public policy framework, support for entrepreneurs, and the creation and expansion of markets. 

Every human action has an impact on the environment, and so does every corporate action. Awareness of this fact makes a difference in business and society. For 2023 in Guatemala, there are many challenges, of which the most outstanding ones come from the implementation of Governmental Agreement number 137-2016 Regulation of evaluation, control and environmental monitoring and its reforms which determine the obligation to elaborate a predictive, corrective or complementary environmental instrument for all projects, industries, works or activities. Fines for not having an environmental impact study can reach up to Q.100,000.00, about $13,000.00. 

Simultaneously for companies, it is necessary to incorporate within the environmental culture the implementation of Agreement 164-2021 Regulation of the integral management of solid and common waste challenges company cultures to carry out new practices of waste separation that involve an understanding of its importance and constant daily practice. It is a reflective exercise of business self-diagnosis, which allows us to evaluate the amount of waste generated by the business activity. This challenge involves the transformation of our employees' ways of thinking. The knowledge of the specific national standards is significant since the execution of the waste division has been empirical; now that there is a set standard, it is time to know it and perform it correctly. 

For Honduras, the main environmental challenges are the urgency of keeping the country's main rivers, lakes, and bodies of water clean. Current environmental intervention initiatives for lakes such as Yojoa and the Michatoya River require priority corrective and preventive measures.  

In this sense, the challenges for companies involve the responsibility of wastewater treatment in their businesses. The implementation of wastewater treatment plants is vital to mitigating water contamination. Wastewater treatment plants complement their function with studies of wastewater and contaminants and the reuse of such water to achieve the sustainability of the systems