A small country with big ideas to get rid of fossil fuels

I love the premise of this article: 'Our planet’s future climate depends on the actions of countries big and small.' I had a long chat with the author of this article. By telling the stories of an unusual pair, Costa Rica and Australia, he shows that small countries can inspire others — an idea that is embedded in my work and the talk. We want to punch above our weight and show that growth at any cost is unwise.

This article highlights something at the basis of my talk: Costa Rica is an outlier when it comes to translating GDP into social progress. While Costa Rica was 28th on the list of 133 countries ranked in the Social Progress Index of 2016, other countries with similar levels of progress are much wealthier. Despite having fewer financial resources and less development, we have achieved similar levels of social wellbeing.

The Guardian asked experts based in Afghanistan, Albania China, Costa Rica and India to lay out why we thought our countries will succeed in going fossil-free. The notion that developing countries can lead the shift to an economy without dirty energy is at the core of my talk. We are capable of doing it. This article shows that countries are already moving in this direction.

This document explores Costa Rica's performance as an economic and environmental model. It looks at concrete results, first in the economy and then in the environment. And it looks for measures that can boost both the economic and environmental performance with a strong focus on public transport and water infrastructure.

Our energy utility (the state-owned Costa Rican electricity institute, ICE) keeps the media informed about the exact percentage of renewable energy power we produce each month. We called it CENCE — the National Center for Energy Control. As a citizen, I also find daily power generation information. I can check whether in any given day we have used fossil fuels or not. (It shows in a red color in the graph as "termico.") Check it up!

Costa Rica's main source of carbon emissions come from burning gasoline for private cars. If we want to be oil free one day, we will need to transform our transportation system — the case I make in my talk and work. Societal demands for better and cleaner transport are on the rise and, for the first time, the national energy plan to 2030 has an explicit pillar related to transportation systems (in the past it was treated in isolation from the energy plan.) Breaking down silos is essential in the transformation of the energy system. We are not there yet, but this plan is a good precedent.

Anyone who has been to Costa Rica knows that our unofficial motto is "pura vida." It's hard to explain what it means. The translation is "pure life," and it tries to capture our easy-going way of life. In my talk and in my advocacy for better transportation, I often mention that our car-centric cities are putting our pura vida spirit at risk because congestion is making Costa Ricans more aggressive. This short film about our country was selected by National Geographic editors.