Costa Rica Sustainability Efforts

Carbon Footprint Calculator

The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) launched a carbon footprint calculator in 2020, which encourages tourists to offset their emissions from air and land travel. Developed in partnership with the National Forest Financing Fund (Fonafifo) the carbon footprint calculator will aid the country’s sustainable tourism efforts and strengthen forest conservation. According to calculations made based on the tourism boards 2018 visitation data, if only 10% of the tourist emissions calculated were offset, an annual benefit of $3,574,063 would help fund the planting of more than 1.5 million trees, or support agroforestry systems in some 34,500+ acres.

Certification for Sustainable Tourism

The main purpose of the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (also known as CST) is to turn the concept of sustainability into something real, practical, and necessary in the context of tourism competitiveness in Costa Rica, in order to improve the way in which natural and social resources are used, promote an active participation of local communities, and provide a new support for the competitiveness of the entrepreneurial sector.

For more information on Costa Rica’s sustainability efforts, click here.