Compared with other countries in Latin America, Costa Rica is doing great. Its policies align with what is needed to limit climate warming to 1.5°C, although its carbon reduction targets need some improvement.
Coming into COP26, Costa Rica is in an excellent position. When COP25 finished, the country was one of the 36 that adhered to the San Jose principles, which aim to ensure that “environmental integrity, robust accounting rules, the avoidance of double counting and ambition” determine the regulations around carbon markets.
The country has a National Decarbonisation Plan, which is more ambitious than its Paris Agreement targets for 2030 and 2050; the government presented an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to global emissions reductions in December 2020, and has had ambitious climate change goals for the past ten years. If it follows its current NDC pathway, the government will achieve carbon neutrality in 2085. However, if it implemented all the policies mentioned in its National Decarbonisation plan, it could do so by 2050. Which is what the country’s government wants to do.
