Is Costa Rica Leading the Way for a Global Permanent Ban on Fossil Fuel Exploration and Extraction?

During the week of August 4th this year, Costa Rica’s government introduced a bill to permanently ban fossil fuel exploration and extraction.

Christiana Figueres who I interviewed back in 2019 at a Collision conference, and who formerly headed up the United Nations on the climate change issue, is a native Costa Rican. She described her government’s introduction of a permanent ban on fossil fuel development and extraction legislation as a way “to remove the temptation….for there to be any current or future government who might think that returning to fossil fuels of the past century is actually a good idea.” 

Costa Rica is by no means a fossil-fuel powerhouse. The country’s major source of electricity comes from hydro, geothermal, and wind renewable energy. So in some respect, this legislation is symbolic.

But could it become a template for other countries in helping to speed up the conversion of the global economy from fossil fuel dependence to a net-zero emission, low-carbon future? Figueres told Reuters “Just because Costa Rica is tiny, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have a voice.” The vote to enact the bill is expected in October.

Costa Rica is by no means the first country to take this step. In 2017, France was the first to announce a ban on oil production on its territory. This was largely symbolic as well because the country has very little oil and gas and imports 99% of the fossil fuels it uses. And the ban wasn’t immediate, with it to take effect in 2040.

In 2018, New Zealand announced an immediate end to future offshore oil and gas exploration. Stated Jacinda Ardern, the country’s Prime Minister, “We must take this step as part of our package of measures to tackle climate change.” Also in 2018, Belize pledged an immediate end to exploration and drilling for oil and natural gas on its land territory and surrounding waters. Belize is home to the second-largest barrier reef in the world and has feared offshore exploration would decimate its flora and fauna.

Denmark announced in 2020 that it was ending fossil fuel exploration in the North Sea immediately and ending extraction from its existing assets by 2050. The significance of this announcement cannot be underestimated since Denmark is the largest oil producer in the European Union. (Note: the UK and Norway are not EU members and produce more oil and natural gas than Denmark.) At the time of the announcement, the government cancelled an oil lease auction and described its decision as one that will “resonate around the world.”

In February 2021, Eire (Ireland), another EU member, approved a ban on new oil and natural gas exploration to take place immediately. Stated its Minister for the Environment, “By keeping fossil fuels in the ground we will incentivize the transition to renewable energy and put ourselves on a pathway to net-zero by 2050.” 

In May 2021, Spain announced plans to end fossil fuel production by 2042. Its Prime Minister stated, “For the planet, for our future and for the next generations…from today, Spain has a climate law on which to build a green, sustainable, fair and prosperous future for all.”

And this July, Greenland, which operates with a high degree of autonomy from its parent country, Denmark, announced its plans to abandon oil exploration with the government making the following statement, “The Greenlandic government believes that the price of oil extraction is too high…This is based upon economic calculations, but considerations of the impact on climate and the environment also play a central role in the decision.” For Greenlanders, the willingness to strand both west and east coast seabed assets with more than 50 billion barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas is a statement in making the entire planet safer.

National governments aren’t the only ones focused on ending the fossil fuel industry. In 2020 I noted that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was in the process of drafting a non-proliferation treaty to end the exploration for and use of fossil fuels globally. The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty is a work in progress backed by 100 Nobel Prize laureates and the Dalai Lama who recently drafted an open letter calling on world leaders to begin the ordered transition to a net-zero emission world. Over 400 organizations along with the Bulletin have joined in this growing effort.

The non-proliferation treaty calls for a fossil fuel exit strategy with an orderly wind-down of these resources and a corollary build-up of renewable energy power generation. A report produced by the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia provides some ammunition and guidance for the non-proliferation effort. It notes:

• Even if fossil fuel expansion ended overnight, too many fossil fuels are already under production in existing coal mines and oil and gas wells to stay below the 1.5 Celsius threshold of the Paris Climate Agreement.

• To keep warming below 1.5 Celsius requires there can be no more expansion in fossil fuel exploration and production, something the International Energy Agency (IEA) has fully endorsed.

• There are more than enough renewable energy resources that can be scaled rapidly enough to meet energy demands on every continent to provide 100% renewable energy for the entire planet. With the cost of the technology for renewables continuing to drop and the technical potential improving and taking into account environmental safeguards, land constraints and technical feasibility, there is enough energy potential in solar and wind to power the world 50 times over.

• Persisting with fossil fuel exploration and extraction locks the players and their supporters in the industry into investments that shortly will turn into stranded assets costing investors trillions of dollars.

In their open letter to the world in support of this treaty, the Nobel laureates make some interesting points. One of them is that the Paris Climate Agreement never mentions coal, oil or gas. This omission has given the fossil fuel industry continued license to develop new projects, and banks and insurers to keep underwriting and funding them. The non-proliferation treaty, therefore, needs to:

• establish a baseline audit of existing fossil fuel projects and reserve assets.
• include an agreement for the sequencing of production phase-down targets across the globe.
• develop a transformation plan endorsed by all countries and industry players to provide for both the poorest and richest nations alternative pathways to meet and exceed 100% of their energy needs.
• draw banks and insurers into the orbit of renewable underwriting and investment across the globe to rescue them from the likely debacle of having backed stranded fossil fuel projects and inventory.
• provide credible monitoring of compliance to ensure the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement are adhered to and met.

If you are interested in learning some more about what should be in this treaty, the journal, Climate Policy, in June of 2019, published an article entitled, “Towards a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty.” It’s worth reading.