One of the Worlds "Greenest" Energy Prod

Costa Rica’s President Oscar Arias announced that Costa Rica will be carbon neutral by 2021 at the Wharton Global Alumni Forum on Business and the Environment held in Costa Rica on June 7.
Costa Rica has already initiated pro-active programs to take control and eliminate global warming.
“While other countries were cutting down their trees, Costa Rica was planting for our future, creating a 10% gain in the amount of territory blessed with leafy vegetation,” he said. Today Costa Rica is the only developing country to have adopted a tax on hydrocarbons,” Arias said. “An ounce of prevention is worth a gallon of crude.”
According to the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), last year about 80% of electricity consumed in the country was hydroelectric, 14% geothermal and only 6% oil-based thermal.
Costa Rica produces less than 0.1% of the world’s total carbon dioxide output and 45-51% of the country is forested according to the National Biodiversity Institute (INBio) http://www.inbio.ac.cr/en/default2.html.
“Costa Rica is a pioneer in the fight against climate change,” said Chris Taylor, an English economist and co-author of the Stern Review, a report released earlier this year that put a global economic price on climate change. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change/sternreview_index.cfm. “It shows what good policies can do, and puts pressure on other country’s to follow suit.
”Trees – especially in dense, jungle areas, act as a counterweight to greenhouse gas emissions, absorbing carbon dioxide and preventing it from accumulating in the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) http://www.ipcc.ch.
Besides protecting trees through special environmental programs and national parks, Costa Rica has also acted to stem the production of greenhouse gases, emphasizing renewable energy sources instead.
The United Nations World Environment Day was recognized on Thursday June 5th and this year Costa Rica’s Environment and Energy Minister, Roberto Dobles, announced the country’s intentions to promote hybrid vehicles and encourage use of public transportation to cut down on emissions. The majority of Costa Rica’s population currently uses public transportation so all that is necessary is to make the transition to hybrid vehicles.
President Arias stated that hydrocarbons – including gasoline and diesel – bear a heavy tax burden in Costa Rica, making fuel here more expensive than in any other country in Central America. 3% of these taxes fund Costa Rica’s cutting-edge payment for environmental services program, called the National Forest Financing Fund (FONAFIFO), which compensates landowners for growing trees. The program doles out nearly $15 million a year to more than 8,000 property owners.
European governments have already put a cap on how much carbon dioxide industries can put into the atmosphere, and they want to tighten that cap even more in the future.
Some large international companies like DHL are already funding tree plantations in Costa Rica. The trees soak up carbon dioxide as they grow. The company does this voluntarily through their “Go Green” range of carbon-neutral and low-carbon products and services in order to help eliminate the carbon emissions their transportation business puts into the atmosphere. http://www.dpwn.de/dpwn?tab=1&skin=hi&check=yes&lang=de_EN&xmlFile=2006946
Costa Rica ranks 108th in the world when it comes to emissions – producing less than 0.1% of the world’s total carbon dioxide output, compared to 24.3% from the United States, 14.5% from China. But every little bit counts, according to economist Taylor, and most important of all is attitude and commitment.
According to Taylor, countries such as Costa Rica, despite their small size, have taken concrete steps – and serve as an example for other nations.
“The solution to global climate change will be driven by individual countries’ domestic policies – and people looking long-term, as Costa Ricans are, will help drive change globally,”
The author wishes to express his appreciation for the valuable contributions of various Costa Rican government agencies including OCIC, Costa Rican Office for Joint Implementation; FUNDECOR, Foundation for the Development of the Central Volcanic Mountain Range; CODEFORSA, Forestry Development Commission of San Carlos and FONAFIFO, National Forestry Finance Fund as well as various hypothesis published on-line and by INBio, National Biodiversity Institute and the IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.