By Roberto Jiménez
A year after the missed opportunity at the climate summit in Copenhagen, delegates from 194 countries have met for the past two weeks in Cancún to build a foundation that will lead to a global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, reports continue to warn us about Central America’s dire fate with the changing climate. We don’t need reminders; recent weather events have shown us the real cost in human lives.
However, not all appears as storm clouds on the horizon. The Cancún event provides Costa Rica a blue-skies opportunity to evolve its climate strategy. Whilst carbon neutrality by 2021 can remain an aspirational goal, we should consider transitioning our national effort to a more short-term, actionable and economy-centric plan. I call this approach carbon opportunity by 2012.
Why change our strategy? Why now?
There is a sense that climate negotiations over the next two years will lead to a global agreement for the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit in 2012 (Rio+20). With this deadline in mind, Costa Rica has a less than a two-year window of opportunity to put together a comprehensive package of nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs), if it aspires to receive climate finance for the Rio meeting.
In addition, the ongoing global recession means that developed countries will likely increase their leverage of the private sector in order meet their climate finance commitments. To release funding, public and private actors will be looking for robust, credible NAMAs that provide solid returns in the form of carbon credits and that have been agreed with key stakeholders, including NGOs and industry associations.
Finally, Costa Rica would be well served to harness the energy of a younger generation, which is increasingly looking at the green economy as a source for innovation and entrepreneurship. Groups like co2neutral2021 continue to offer pro-bono support to get climate action going.
Costa Rica can seize this opportunity to receive funding for its low-carbon development by coordinating national and international strategies and leveraging Laura Chinchilla’s consensus-building skills.
At the national level, we’ll need to focus a diverse group of government, business and civil society leaders towards a common goal of drafting credible and implementable NAMAs by 2012. Unlocking the large GHG abatement opportunities in the energy, agriculture and waste sectors will require consensus on priority areas, then sharing responsibilities to deliver the reduction plans.
Internationally, Costa Rica should consider strengthening the Cartagena Group’s Latin America coalition in order to provide a more constructive approach as compared to ALBA’s tactics. Engaging a more diverse group of Costa Ricans in the national delegation will reestablish Costa Rica’s leadership in the global climate dialogue.
In her first year in office, Chinchilla has shown her ability to build consensus by reaching out to have open, constructive dialogues with parties who may not share her perspective. Her leadership with this open-dialogue approach can prove to be the key enabler for success in our national and international efforts.
Moving forward, we need to win the hearts and minds of key business and society leaders, so they will help drive the national agenda forward; ensure they understand the challenge ahead and the size of the prize; collaborate with key international agencies, institutions and NGOs to gain technical support and facilitation and advisory services for drafting of the NAMAs.
On the international front, we must develop a roadmap for our efforts towards Rio in 2012. The plan should include key signposts along the journey and the desired milestones to be achieved.
We have begun a new journey to building international trust and Costa Rica’s leadership in the global climate change dialogue. Let’s revive the conversation by focusing on our carbon opportunity in 2012. Once we’ve built that solid foundation, we’ll be on our way towards reaching our climate aspirations.
Roberto Jiménez is director of CO2neutral2021, a non-governmental organization dedicated to achieving carbon neutrality in Costa Rica.
