Building evidence-based climate pathways in Costa Rica
Modelling the emissions, costs, benefits, and transformations behind Costa Rica’s Decarbonization Plan and Second NDC — using an integrated CLEW Nexus approach.
Costa Rica has been a pioneering country in advancing evidence-based climate mitigation pathways, supported by efforts to build modeling capacity to inform climate action plans in terms of emissions, costs, benefits, and required transformations.
I contributed to this process as a modeler, supporting the development of integrated models under the CLEW (climate, land, energy, and water) Nexus approach, which captures both sectoral dynamics and their interlinkages.
The models were used to inform both the development of Costa Rica’s Decarbonization Plan and the update of Costa Rica’s second Nationally Determined Contribution. Beyond their technical rigor, these models were developed through participatory processes, ensuring that their calibration and configuration reflected country-specific realities and addressed key policy questions.