Costa Rica plans to ban fossil fuels completely

Costa Rica announced plans on May 9 to ban the use of fossil fuels and become a leader in the fight against global climate change.Global CitizenThe historic announcement was made by the new President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, during his inauguration ceremony at the Democracy Square (Plaza de la Democracia) in the capital San Jose.

"Getting rid of fossil fuels is the great task of our generation and Costa Rica will be one of the pioneers in this," Alvarado stressed in a speech on Wednesday. "We will pave the way for an economy powered entirely by clean and renewable energy."

Costa Rica is one of the world's leading countries in clean energy development. Currently, 99% of the electricity used by this country comes from renewable energy. Geographical features help this small country receive 78.26% of its energy from hydroelectricity. In addition, the small population size of just over 4.8 million people (according to 2016 statistics) allows Costa Rica to not need too much energy. The success in developing renewable energy also comes from the determination and action of the government.

Transportation will be the first sector to be addressed as it accounts for a large part of the country’s energy needs. The Costa Rican government has set a target of 100% clean-energy vehicles by 2021, a challenging but revolutionary goal for the country.