Report
The Benefits and Costs of Decarbonizing Costa Rica's Economy
Nov 24, 2020
In this follow-on analysis to their 2020 study on the benefits and costs of Costa Rica's National Decarbonization Plan (NDP), the authors assess how the implementation of NDP could contribute to a just and robust COVID-19 recovery. The authors find that five years of decarbonization investments would offset the lingering impacts that COVID-19 would have on employment and economic activity.
Aligning Costa Rica's Decarbonization Investments with Economic Recovery
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly affected Costa Rica, especially its most vulnerable population groups. Prior to the onset of the pandemic, Costa Rica had been taking a leading role in addressing the global climate crisis through investments in adaptation and decarbonization. The pandemic, however, led to a sharp increase in unemployment; the number of unemployed workers increased by over 240,000 people between February and June 2020, and the unemployment rate peaked at over 24 percent, exacerbating prepandemic inequities.
In this follow-on analysis to their 2020 study on the benefits and costs of Costa Rica's National Decarbonization Plan (NDP), the authors evaluate how investment in decarbonization through the NDP could improve employment and economic growth in the near term as Costa Rica recovers from COVID-19. Using a computable general equilibrium model, the authors estimate that five years of decarbonization investments would offset the lingering impacts that COVID-19 would have on employment and economic activity.
The authors also describe how decarbonization could help Costa Rica make progress in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—a key tenet in Costa Rica's decarbonization vision. The authors conclude with recommendations for how decarbonization investments could be best targeted to provide additional near-term economic benefits, how these investments should be deployed and coordinated to generate long-lasting positive benefits across the different sectors of the economy, and how these investments could be prioritized to meet different SDGs over time, considering the progress the country has made on each one of them.
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
Modeling the Effect of COVID-19 and Decarbonization Investment on Costa Rica's Economy
Chapter Three
Possible COVID-19 Recovery Trajectories
Chapter Four
Jump-Starting COVID-19 Recovery Through Decarbonization Investment
Chapter Five
Aligning Decarbonization with Broader Sustainable Development Goals
Chapter Six
Conclusion
Appendix A
IEEM Details
Appendix B
Decarbonization Investment Costs
Appendix C
Relevance of Nationally Determined Contribution Decarbonization Actions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
This study was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, Costa Rica, and conducted by the Community Health and Environmental Policy Program within RAND Social and Economic Well-Being.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Research report series. RAND reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.
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