During his inauguration speech last week, the new president of Costa Rica announced an ambitious plan to make the country a leader in the fight against climate change.
As thousands of constituents were gathered in San Jose for 38-year-old Carlos Alvarado’s presidential induction ceremony, he announced his intentions to fully ban the use of fossil fuels and make Costa Rica the first country in the world to achieve decarbonization.
“Decarbonization is the great task of our generation and Costa Rica must be one of the first countries in the world to accomplish it, if not the first,” says the president.
He added: “We have the titanic and beautiful task of abolishing the use of fossil fuels in our economy to make way for the use of clean and renewable energies.”
Alvarado, who formerly worked as a journalist, seemed to emphasize his intentions by traveling to the inauguration aboard a hydrogen-fueled bus, according to The Independent.
The president plans on implementing the country’s fossil fuel ban in 2021, which marks Costa Rica’s 200th year of independence.
“When we reach 200 years of independent life we will take Costa Rica forward and celebrate … that we’ve removed gasoline and diesel from our transportation,” Alvarado promised.
While the ban may seem unrealistic, Costa Rica has already been hailed for generating 99% of their energy needs through renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, wind, solar, and geothermal energy.
Experts say that one of the last major steps for the country’s decarbonization is eliminating fossil fuels from public transportation, which make up a large portion of Costa Rica’s CO2 emissions.
Source:GNN
