Abstract
Costa Rica has set a very ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Despite the low-carbon footprint of its power sector, the goal set in its NDC requires further decarbonization of the national energy system. A TIMES model was developed in order to assess alternative energy and decarbonization scenarios for the country, with a particular emphasis on demand-side actions. A group of local experts actively participated in the model and scenario development while being trained in its use. Additionally, a set of tools for processing model outputs and graphical comparison of scenarios was used to facilitate the communication of results to stakeholders. Three groups of scenarios were developed and assessed. Firstly, the Baseline (business-as-usual) scenario was established and set as the benchmark in the absence of any mitigation policies. Secondly, scenarios which examine the already Planned policies and programs that are envisioned to be undertaken in Costa Rica were assembled and explored. Finally, Enhanced mitigation scenarios that lead the country towards its NDC at least-cost were designed and evaluated. In total, over 75 mitigation measures were defined and addressed in this study covering all the sectors within the energy economy.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of Data and Material
The input data for the TIMES-CostaRica model was compiled from many publically available reports and databases as described in detail in World Bank project Final Report [4].
Code Availability
The TIMES modeling platform is available from the International Energy Agency Energy Technology Systems Analysis Program (IEA-ETSAP). However, the TIMES-CostaRica model is the property of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica.
References
Costa Rica’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, Government of Costa Rica, Ministry of Environment and Energy. (2015). Available at: http://www4.unfccc.int/Submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Costa%20Rica/1/INDC%20Costa%20Rica%20Version%202%200%20final%20ENG.pdf.
The World Bank’s Partnership for Market Readiness supports countries to assess, prepare and implement carbon pricing instruments in order to scale up greenhouse gas mitigation, more information available at: https://www.thepmr.org/content/supporting-action-climate-change-mitigation.
Costa Rica: Assessing Climate Mitigation Pathways To Support NDC Implementation
ETSAP-TIAM: the TIMES integrated assessment model Part I: Model structure | SpringerLink
ETP Model – Energy Technology Perspectives 2020 – Analysis - IEA
European Fusion Development Agreement: CATAL_TIF_EN111202.XP4 (ciemat.es)
Pan-European TIMES: Times | REEEM
EC-TIMES: https://www.energy-community.org/dam/jcr:d3d6cf12-9bfb-45ed-8f8d-ec4d4eafe191/DecisionWare_2014_EE_Directive_(2012.27.EU).PDF , https://www.energy-community.org/dam/jcr:3b23d292-9f96-47ee-bf22-6dfb45c811c2/PHLG122014_ECS_Directive_2012_27_EU.PDF, https://www.energy-community.org/dam/jcr:b258f612-a263-4f3d-ac93-3d4311492add/EECG022014_Conclusions.PDF
EPAUS9rT - An Energy Systems Database for use with the TIMES Model | US EPA
US10r MARKAL: PV Roadmap draft 21 April 2002 (bnl.gov)
Northeast US 12-state https://www.nescaum.org/topics/ne-markal-model
TIMES-UK: https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=36988
China_Tsinghua: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610211012434#
TIMES-Ukraine: Ukraine INDC Analysis_SummaryBrief.pdf
TIMES-Vietnam: WB-PMR_Vietnam_NDC Final Report_03282020-Clean.pdf
Thirsty Energy initiative: South Africa case study can be found at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/26255 and the China case study can be found at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29509
Funding
The work described in this paper was funded by the World Bank with the support of the Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) in Costa Rica.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The World Bank and PMR authors designed and managed the study that resulted in this paper. The PMR and Ministry authors contributed to the data gathering, model design, policy measure identification, and review of modeling results. Development of the TIMES-CostaRica model, calibration of the Baseline scenario, implementation of the policy scenarios, and interpretation of the model results were performed jointly by the DecisionWare Group and Universidad de los Andes authors.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Goldstein, G.A., DeLaquil , P., Sikharulidze, A. et al. Costa Rica — Assessing Climate Mitigation Pathways to Support NDC Implementation. Environ Model Assess 26, 927–946 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-021-09799-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-021-09799-x