Carlos Alvarado, a 38-year-old former journalist, recently became Costa Rica’s new president. During his swearing-in ceremony at Democracy Square in the capital, San Jose, Alvarado made the announcement of his plan to ban fossil fuels and become the first fully decarbonized country in the world.
Alvarado said, “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.”
“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.”
Image by fDi Intelligence on Youtube
Costa Rica will end fossil fuel use in transport by 2021
Alvarado shared his plan of stopping the use of fossil fuels in transportation by 2021, the 200th year of Costa Rican independence. He said in a victory speech, “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.”
This is no doubt a great initiative. Environmentalists around the world have welcomed this news. Many think this decision can influence other nations, as well.
Erik Solheim, head of the United Nations Environment Programme, tweeted this in response to the announcement: “A zero-carbon future is possible!”
