Costa Rica Publishes SLCP Roadmap

In May 2024, project implementers Ruta del Clima and Climate Lead Group published the Roadmap for implementing SLCP mitigation measures, including prioritised measures[1] . The Roadmap identifies the potential benefits of fully implementing SLCP mitigation policies in each sector. 

For example, in the transport and energy sector, the electrification of transport and the improvement in energy efficiency could result in a net savings of $8.2 billion, considering the costs associated with electricity generation and transportation.

In agriculture and livestock, emissions mitigation measures have an impact that favors both the reduction of SLCP emissions and the improvement in the productivity and sustainability of the sector. 

Based on current models, the strategy for mitigating methane and hydrofluorocarbon emissions from the waste, agriculture and livestock, and industrial sectors would require an investment of almost US$2 billion. By 2050, however, the energy sector's black carbon and methane mitigation strategy could generate a saving of US$ 8.6 billion, saving Costa Rica country US$6.6 billion

In Costa Rica, responsibility for SLCP planning is shared across departments within the Ministry of Environment and Energy. Both the National Meteorological Institute (IMN)[1], the Directorate of Climate Change (DCC), the Directorate of Environmental Quality Management (DIGECA) and the Directorate of Energy (DSE) have previously worked on national inventories of greenhouse gases and the development of Costa Rica’s NDC and their accumulated experience has helped the development of the national SLCP plan and methane roadmap.

In the process of developing Costa Rica’s National Decarbonisation Plan[2] and NDC[3], government planners discovered that important decisions on key SLCP sectors such as agriculture, waste, and cooling, were already being coordinated by mechanisms within the Inter-Institutional Committee for Climate Change[4]. This committee helped facilitate engagement with the private sector and other institutions to gather data for the development of the SLCP plan and methane roadmap and follow up on any progress or obstacles they had faced in implementing Costa Rica’s existing plans and policies. 

“Our engagement with the private sector has been very cooperative. Costa Rica’s private sector has been very cooperative and engages with government climate policies voluntarily” said Kathia Aguilar Martín, Chemical Engineer with the IMN. International cooperation and funding support for climate mitigation projects has also incentivized the cooperation of the private sector and other stakeholders according to Aguilar Martín.

Costa Rica’s planning process has shown that some sectors are easier to gather data and track progress on than others. In cooling for example, a government decree[5] mandates the collection of data on HFCs in equipment. At the same time, hotels and other industries benefit from a co-contribution scheme supported by GIZ to change HFC-based equipment for low-global warming potential alternatives. 

Other sectors such as waste are much harder to track progress on due to the fragmented nature of the sector. Costa Rica has a recycling rate of around 10%, and recognizes that while methane is primarily emitted from organic residues, plastics are fossil fuel products and their reduction is also part of a strong circular economy models. Costa Rica’s high level of political will to develop such models was recently displayed in a forum[6] where the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government all participated in advocating for a circular economy.

The feasibility of SLCP planning measures is influenced by political will, economic feasibility and technological feasibility among other factors. Costa Rica’s SLCP planning takes these factors into account by linking the financing of different sectoral actions with existing incentivisation and financing schemes. The government of Costa Rica also tracks how much money is moving within the private sector towards sustainability investments[7]. 

“Political will for climate action is consistently strong in Costa Rica,” said Aguilar Martín. “The main challenge is human resource capacity within the public sector to implement the tools and planning developed with international support, particularly over the long-term. International support in the form of consultants embedded for the long-term in support of planning efforts can help a lot to accomplish our climate goals.

The final stages of implementing the SLCP plan will see the development of further tools for gathering data and developing monitoring, reporting and verification systems in difficult sectors such as waste and agriculture.

This end result of national SLCP plan and methane roadmap will help the government prioritise specific actions to mitigate hydrofluorocarbons, black carbon, and methane; as well as target international cooperation to help finance high-impact projects to reduce emissions. Filling in the gaps in these sectors will help improve the annual updating of Costa Rica’s national greenhouse gas inventory. Costa Rica is also exploring the potential to open it’s National Climate Change Metrics System (sinamecc) portal to sectoral stakeholders so that they can directly report emissions data and more easily assess data sets.
 

For further information on how Costa Rica’s 2020 NDC links to the Sustainable Development Goals, click here.

You can also access more information on policies designed to strengthen Costa Rica’s NDC below:

Thematic Area 3. Energy with the National Green Hydrogen Strategy Estrategia Nacional de Hidrógeno Verde de Costa Rica – MINAE ENERGIA

Thematic Area 6. Waste Management with the National Circular Economy Strategy Estrategia National Economia Circular.pdf (minae.go.cr)

Thematic Area 7. Agriculture with the National Appropiated Mitigation Actions: Coffee NAMA – Cafe De Costa Rica Livestock Notatskabelon (mag.go.cr)

Thematic Area 10. Action for Climate Empowerment with the Youth Climate Council Consejo Climático de Juventudes (@consejoclimaticodejuventudes) • Instagram photos and videos and the Climate Change Citizen Advisory Council 5C - Consejo Consultivo Ciudadano de Cambio Climático - Dirección de Cambio Climático (minae.go.cr)

Thematic Area 13. Climate change policies, strategies and plan with the National Action Plan on Gender Equality in Climate Action Plan de Acción Nacional sobre Igualdad de Género en la Acción por el Clima | Programa De Las Naciones Unidas Para El Desarrollo (undp.org)