Costa Rica takes aim at vehicle emissions

Hoping to advance towards its goal of carbon neutrality, Costa Rica has launched a bid to make its fleet of pollutant-spewing automobiles cleaner and more efficient. Costa Rica committed in 2009 to become carbon neutral, but its aging transport system, heavily reliant on fossil fuels and accounting for 32% of the nation’s greenhouse-gas emissions, has made attainment of that goal increasingly unlikely, analysts say. Today more than half of the estimated one million private vehicles in Costa Rica are 15 years old or older. The new program, launched March 5, will provide car owners with financial incentives to replace them with models that get at least 35 miles per gallon. Vehicle owners who turn in their old vehicles will get a $1,500 voucher... [Log in to read more]

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