Costa Rica, a developing country

~ 5 million people

nearly 100% of their electricity comes from renewable sources, hydropower, geothermal, wind, solar, biomass.

In 2015, for 299 days, they did not use any fossil fuels in order to generate all electricity. But 70% of energy consumption was oil. Because of their transportation system, which is totally dependent on fossil fuels. 

Costa Rica, no army.

1948, the country was coming out of civil war. They decided reboot the country, and no army. 

In the ‘40s, Costa Ricans were given free education and free health care. By abolishing the army, they were able to turn military spending into social spending, and that was a driver of stability. 

In the ‘50s, they started investing in hydropower, and that kept us away from the trap of using fossil fuels for electricity generation. 

In the ‘70s they invested in national parks, and that kept us away from the deeply flawed logic of growth, growth, growth at any cost that you see others embracing. 

In the ‘90s, they pioneered payments for ecosystem services, and that helped them reverse deforestation and boosted ecotourism, which today is a key engine of growth. 

Costa Rica, the GDP per capital is around 11000 dollars.

Electricity comes from water in river, heat from volcanoes, wind turbines, solar panels, biowaste. 

Abolishing fossil fuels means disrupting their transportation system so that they can power this cars, buses and trains with electricity instead of dirty energy.

The speaker gave three reasons why they have to do this.

1) model of transportation and urbanisation is broken, so this is the best moment to redefine urban and mobility future. 

2) need transformational change. 

3) Costa Rica can be an inspiration. 

In 2014, they created Costa Rica Limpia, Limpia means clean, because they want to empower and inspire citizens.