Costa Rica

Critically Insufficient4°C+ World

NDCs with this rating fall well outside of a country’s “fair share” range and are not at all consistent with holding warming to below 2°C let alone with the Paris Agreement’s stronger 1.5°C limit. If all government NDCs were in this range, warming would exceed 4°C. For sectors, the rating indicates that the target is consistent with warming of greater than 4°C if all other sectors were to follow the same approach.

Highly insufficient< 4°C World

NDCs with this rating fall outside of a country’s “fair share” range and are not at all consistent with holding warming to below 2°C let alone with the Paris Agreement’s stronger 1.5°C limit. If all government NDCs were in this range, warming would reach between 3°C and 4°C. For sectors, the rating indicates that the target is consistent with warming between 3°C and 4°C if all other sectors were to follow the same approach.

Insufficient< 3°C World

NDCs with this rating are in the least stringent part of a country’s “fair share” range and not consistent with holding warming below 2°C let alone with the Paris Agreement’s stronger 1.5°C limit. If all government NDCs were in this range, warming would reach over 2°C and up to 3°C. For sectors, the rating indicates that the target is consistent with warming over 2°C and up to 3°C if all other sectors were to follow the same approach.

2°C Compatible< 2°C World

NDCs with this rating are consistent with the 2009 Copenhagen 2°C goal and therefore fall within a country’s “fair share” range, but are not fully consistent with the Paris Agreement long term temperature goal. If all government NDCs were in this range, warming could be held below, but not well below, 2°C and still be too high to be consistent with the Paris Agreement 1.5°C limit. For sectors, the rating indicates that the target is consistent with holding warming below, but not well below, 2°C if all other sectors were to follow the same approach.

1.5°C Paris Agreement Compatible< 1.5°C World

This rating indicates that a government’s NDCs in the most stringent part of its “fair share” range: it is consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit. For sectors, the rating indicates that the target is consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit.

Role model<< 1.5°C World

This rating indicates that a government’s NDC is more ambitious than what is considered a “fair” contribution: it is more than consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit. No “role model” rating has been developed for the sectors.

1.5°C Compatible< 1.5°C World

All sectors

With currently implemented policies, Costa Rica’s emissions levels could increase to 156% of 1990 levels by 2020 and 201% of 1990 levels by 2030, excluding land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF). Total emissions excl. LULUCF increased sharply in the early 1990s, and have steadily increased, though at a lower rate since 2000, doubling between 1990 (6 MtCO2e) and 2012 (12 MtCO2e). The LULUCF sector is expected to become a larger sink in the future, but emissions from transport, industry, and waste are expected to grow over time under current policies.

Costa Rica has put in place some policies to reduce GHG emissions. Most of the planned abatement will come from the LULUCF sector; the government intends to make an extensive use of funds from the REDD+ and carbon trade (Ministerio de Ambiente Energia y Telecommunicaciones, 2009; Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, 2014). Until now, many of the accounting details for programmes like REDD+ in a post-2020 scenario have been uncertain (OECD, 2014).

Beyond LULUCF, the main policies driving mitigation take place in the energy, transport and agriculture sectors, with further substantial emissions reductions from the waste sector. Since the implementation of the National Climate Change Strategy (ENCC) in 2008, Costa Rica has been working to design mitigation actions in transportation, energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy and agriculture (NAMA Database, 2011). Examples of the policies considered include a goal to have 100% electricity generated from renewable energy, better agricultural practices, waste management in cities and electric transportation (Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, 2015a).

Costa Rica’s National Programme for Carbon Neutrality, first implemented in 2012, is a government initiative to reach carbon neutrality. A voluntary domestic carbon market has been established under the programme, in which businesses and organisations can purchase emissions offsets in pursuit of carbon neutrality, but only after they have done everything possible to reduce their own emissions. The programme also establishes a “C-Neutral” (carbon neutral) certification for businesses and a national registry of carbon footprints for organisations (Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, 2015b).

The VII National Energy Plan 2015-2030, approved on September 14, 2015, supported the continuation of renewable energy development, energy efficiency and low-carbon emissions transport. The aspirational goal is to achieve and sustain 100% of electricity generation coming from renewable energy by 2021 (Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, 2015c). In 2014, 90% of electricity was already generated from renewable sources, mainly hydropower (IEA, 2016) and Costa Rica already generates 100% electricity during some parts of the year. Further advancements are partially achieved with the National Program for Carbon Neutrality that promotes hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass as renewable energy sources.

According to the NDC, most of the emissions reductions will come from the increased use of electric transportation, both private and public (i.e. inter-urban train) (Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, 2015a). Regarding the agriculture sector, the NDC points out measures to increase access to finance for the procurement of low-carbon technologies, particularly for small and medium size enterprises. Costa Rica also has a National Low-Carbon Livestock Strategy, which aims at replicating pilot projects such as the one in the Livestock NAMA. Regarding the waste sector, the NDC plans to reduce GHG emissions by enhancing solid waste management in the Metropolitan area (Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, 2015a).