If Costa Rica wants to be a carbon neutral country by 2050, it necessarily has to do something with public transportation and the private vehicle fleet; Otherwise, you don’t have the slightest chance of achieving that goal.
Today, greenhouse gas emissions that damage the ozone layer and promote climate change almost triple the mitigation carried out by Costa Rican forests.Of the 14.5 million tons of carbon dioxide that the country produces per year, only 4 million tons are mitigated, while the energy sector, mainly the consumption of gasoline and diesel, causes the emission of 8 million tons of that gas, according to the latest State of the Nation report, released.
The solutions
To resolve this situation, environmentalists, researchers, businessmen and other experts make several recommendations.Improving public transportation through an efficient bus system – hopefully eco-friendly -, promoting the use of an electric train, creating cycle paths and other options for pedestrians would be the first steps.
The idea is that people leave their cars at home and thus reduce dams and greenhouse gas emissions.At the same time, the use of electric cars must be encouraged, so that the vehicle fleet changes in the coming years.However, the first thing must be to resolve the issue of public transportation, according to David Gómez, a sustainable mobility consultant.
The key aspect
“The key here is that that should be the order. Sustainable mobility system first, change to clean energy later. Doing it the other way around leaves us in the same gap but without muffles, and that is not sustainable,” Gómez added.
Other fundamental actions are related to ruling out any possibility of exploiting gas and oil, since the world has begun its energy transition towards more renewable sources, exploring other energy alternatives in the future such as green hydrogen and understanding that Costa Rica has its associated country brand with the defense of nature, the environment and tourism.
