Achieving “net zero” emissions in the private sector is possible with a roadmap and business strategy. The NDC Action Project works in both areas, which has the support of the Business Alliance for Development (AED), which brings together more than 100 Costa Rican companies, in liaison with allies to promote changes towards sustainability.
The NDC Action Project seeks to design concrete sectoral strategies and actions that can be financed and implemented quickly, in order to increase the ambition of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). It is a project financed by the IKI initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection (BMWK) and is implemented in Costa Rica by the United Nations Environment Program with the support of AED.
After the work that began in 2021, and will end in September 2024, today we have a methodology for the creation of roadmaps for the decarbonization and adaptation of companies that has been validated with technical experts and has been piloted with organizations from the food and commerce sectors.
Furthermore, through coordinated work with the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) and other cooperators such as the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ) and the World Bank, studies have been supported and developed to identify decarbonization options for sectors such as tourist maritime transport, energy consumption in industry, use of refrigerants and air conditioners, fishing, wood products and sugar cane.
Identifying barriers and enabling conditions
We have also identified barriers and enabling conditions to accelerate the technological transition of the private sector and have contributed to the development of the international ISO 14068 Standard to demonstrate Carbon Neutrality.
Efforts to develop roadmaps for the adaptation and decarbonization of companies will be complemented by the creation of a strategy between the financial sector, insurance sector and private sector for the identification and strengthening of financing instruments and the development of investments that accelerate technological transition and business resilience.
Vital commitments
Costa Rica launched its Decarbonization Plan in 2019, it did so with the commitment to have zero carbon emissions by 2050. In the last 30 years, our country almost doubled its emissions (42% are contributed by transportation). Our forests capture 20% of them.
The decarbonization plan includes 10 axes of work. AED’s contribution lies in axis 6: modernization of the industrial sector through the application of electric, efficient and sustainable low and zero emissions processes and technologies.
The roadmaps must have specific emissions reduction goals resulting from greater energy efficiency, with the elimination of energy from fossil fuels and the use of renewable electricity and bioenergy generated from biomass or waste.
The State must contribute to technological substitution through mechanisms that encourage and facilitate the purchase of equipment. It must also promote and have model examples of a circular economy, this is making efficient use of assets and products to use them as much as possible through actions such as repair, reuse, recycling, among others. Precisely, last June, the country launched the National Circular Economy Strategy. The decarbonization plan also promotes the consumption of products and services with the smallest possible footprint and environmental impact.
Costa Rica’s commitment is no less: supporting the evolution of the economic models of its productive sectors to more efficient, low or zero emissions, circular, resilient and sustainable models.
Survival on Earth
For AED it is possible to achieve these goals and that is why we work to facilitate the implementation of climate resilient development with low carbon emissions. Our planet and our survival on Earth require it.
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