Over 98 percent of Costa Rica’s energy comes from renewable sources – here’s how

Every year, thousands of people flock to Costa Rica’s northern highlands to enjoy the country’s largest inland body of water: Lake Arenal. Situated beneath the majestic Arena Volcano and surrounded by lush, forested hills and pastures, its 33 square miles of blue waters are frequented by kayakers, paddleboarders and windsurfers. And while the lake has been a natural treasure for many millions of years, it wasn’t always this big. In the 1970s, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute built the Presa Sangregado Dam on the western end of the lake, tripling the size of Lake Arenal while creating a renewable energy source powerful enough to generate 12 percent of the country’s electricity.

In Costa Rica, sustainability is a way of life. The country has long been a pioneer in protecting its abundant natural resources, including biodiverse cloud and rainforests, golden and black sand beaches, and vibrant ecosystems of active volcanoes. Today it is on a mission to become the first carbon neutral country in the world. With renewable energy sources already accounting for almost 93 percent of Costa Rica’s electricity, the country is well on its way to achieving this goal.

How do they do it?

Costa Rica is only 19,730 square miles in size and is about the size of West Virginia. Despite the relatively small size of the country, the large concentration of rivers, dams and volcanoes provide an abundance of renewable energy resources.

After the end of Costa Rica’s civil war in the late 1940s, the country disbanded its army, choosing instead to invest its budget in environmental protection, education, and health. Around the same time, his government created the Costa Rican Electricity Institute to harness renewable natural resources, diversifying into green energy technologies such as geothermal energy – derived from heat beneath the earth’s surface – as well as wind power, solar power and the use of biomass, a renewable organic material originating from plants and animals.

However, Costa Rica’s abundance of waterways and large amounts of annual rainfall have made hydropower the country’s obvious choice for renewable energy. In fact, electricity from moving water accounts for more than half of the country’s total energy production.

In 2019, Costa Rica launched its National Decarbonization Plan, which aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, meaning it will not produce more carbon dioxide emissions than it can offset. The ambitious plan includes a combination of medium and long-term goals covering transport, energy, waste and land use reform. For example: Even though the country’s electricity system is almost entirely generated by renewable energy, public transportation still accounts for approximately 40 percent of climate change emissions in Costa Rica. Costa Rica’s goal is to transition 70 percent of public buses and taxis to clean air alternatives such as electricity by 2035, and to make them completely emission-free by 2050.

The National Decarbonization Plan also includes initiatives to develop integrated, low-GHG systems to collect, sort, reuse and dispose of waste by 2025. The country has already banned the sale and free distribution of single-use plastic straws and bags, with exceptions for bags. reusable and biodegradable. While the latter bags can be plastic, they must be certified as having a low environmental impact and cannot be single-use.

By the 1980s, Costa Rica had lost between half and a third of its trees to loggers and agriculture. But thanks to a successful reforestation program that includes an environmental services payment program that provides financial incentives to farmers and landowners who engage in activities such as agroforestry and tree farm planting, forests now cover almost 60 percent of the country. The national decarbonization plan calls for this percentage to be maintained or even increased by 2050.

Other initiatives for Costa Rica’s sustainable development

Ecotourism is an important aspect of Costa Rica’s sustainable development initiatives. According to the National Tourism Board, almost two-thirds of the three million people who visit Costa Rica each year do so for its natural offerings. Whether it’s hiking through the lush greenery of the Monteverde Cloud Forest reserve, spotting howler monkeys and two-toed sloths, or horseback riding on the slopes of the Arenal volcano overlooking the lake of the same name, ecotourists play a big role in protecting the country’s natural resources as well. By experiencing the beauty of a red macaw in the wild or seeing a tree frog up close, visitors are more likely to engage in conversation. This could mean something as simple as sticking to marked trails and avoiding wildlife, or supporting a local nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates sea turtles.

Costa Rica is home to approximately six percent of the planet’s terrestrial and marine biodiversity. It also boasts nearly half a million acres of protected land, including 29 national parks, 19 wildlife refuges and eight biological reserves. These include places like Tortuguero National Park, a remote stretch of tropical rainforest, swamps and beaches, and Santa Rosa National Park, which protects some of the last dry tropical forests in the world – full of wildlife such as tapirs, jaguars, and white-nosed coatimundis .

The country’s commitment to sustainable development includes community-led initiatives, such as local ecology and fair trade coffee farms, as well as industry. In 2018, Costa Rica joined the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, an association made up of organizations, alliances, movements and individuals from around the world committed to an economy that puts people’s well-being and the environment first. This includes attracting international companies that make sustainability a priority, such as US medical equipment maker Boston Scientific and global technology innovator IBM.

Pioneer of the green initiative

When it comes to sustainability, Costa Rica is a global model in everything from investment to ecotourism. However, the country’s commitment to renewable energy is still a major factor.