A small country with big ideas to get rid of fossil fuels

How do we build a society without fossil fuels? Using her native Costa Rica as an example of positive action on environmental protection and renewables, climate advocate Monica Araya outlines a bold vision for a world committed to clean energy in all sectors.

In 2015 Monica Araya's native Costa Rica produced almost all of its electricity from renewable sources. She advocates for the next step: a fossil-fuel-free world.

Why you should listen

Monica Araya is the founder and director of Costa Rica Limpia (Spanish for "clean"), a citizen group that promotes clean energy. Costa Rica Limpia tracks governmental pledges on key issues such as renewable energy and public transport investment, and it hosts citizen consultations to give visibility to people's preferences on these topics. Araya is also the founder of Nivela, an international thought leadership group that advances narratives on development and climate responsibility by combining senior and millennial perspectives from emerging economies.

After earning a master's in economic policy from Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Araya obtained a PhD in environmental management from Yale. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs named her 'Personality of the Future' in 2014.

Source: TEDx

Region: Central America

Country: Costa Rica