Back in 2015 it managed to generate 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy sources for 299 days, and in 2016, it ran for 271 days on everything but fossil fuels. Now, it appears that Costa Rica has done it again. The small country has purportedly run for a whopping 300 days solely on a mixture of hydro, geothermal, wind, biomass and solar energy.
According to a recent report from the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity, the nation has just bested its 2015 achievement and has run for 300 days solely on renewable energy sources.
Costa Rica hosts more than five per cent of the world’s species biodiversity despite a landmass that covers 0.03 per cent of the planet.
While dams provided the majority of the country’s electricity, they can have destructive environmental and social consequences, such as affecting previously healthy rivers, disrupting wildlife and displacing indigenous communities.
"The story could have been different. It could have been the story of any developing country that goes for the short-term option. I think the underpinning rationale that shaped some of the decisions that now have paid off – for example, non-fossil fuel electricity generation, the creation of national parks – was the ability to think in the long term."
That long-term view is exactly what the rest of the world needs to think about right now, with CO2 emissions and global temperatures still steadily rising towards an uncertain future.
