Climate policy and emissions modelling capacities in Costa Rica
Three years embedded in national planning — building the modelling muscle behind Costa Rica’s climate commitments.
Between 2018 and 2021, I worked as a decarbonization researcher and modeler at the Electric Power and Energy Research Laboratory (EPERLab) of the University of Costa Rica. The team’s mandate was to bring rigorous, independent modelling capacity to Costa Rica’s climate and energy planning processes — not as external consultants, but as a standing national resource.
I served as lead modeler for the consultation process of Costa Rica’s Second NDC, assessing the emissions, economic, and social impacts of alternative mitigation pathways. The work fed directly into policy discussions and stakeholder consultations, with scenario results co-designed so that ministries and civil society organisations could interrogate assumptions, not just accept outputs.
I also provided technical inputs for Costa Rica’s Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Plan and the update of the national Energy Plan, and supported the implementation of the first national industrial and residential energy use surveys. Those datasets are still a backbone of national energy planning.
The period left a lasting conviction: the countries that make the fastest, fairest transitions are the ones that invest in standing technical capacity — public or academic — rather than outsourcing each decision to a fresh consultancy.