Building capacity for sustainable transport pathways in Costa Rica

DPAD in close collaboration with the Ministry of Planning, other government institutions in Costa Rica, and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), completed a third training workshop on energy systems modelling, in San José, on 6-10 June 2016. As a result of the cumulative training, a number of government experts now possess the skills to use the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) system for policy analysis. Their preliminary analysis suggests that aggressive policies for the transport sector will be needed to live up to the expectations of the Seventh National Energy Plan of abating GHG emissions by 2040. These results were presented to the Minister of Planning, Ms. Olga Marta Sanchez Oviedo (in the picture), the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, Ms. Vivian Calderon Cordero, and a number of directors and managers from different institutions. Further support for Costa Rica will be aimed at fine-tuning the LEAP model and building scenarios for analysis of targets of the 7th National Energy Plan. Trainees will also acquire stills for better communication of results from models—such as LEAP—to policymakers.