Costa Rica’s new government is shifting gears on environmental policy, reluctant to follow the lead of previous administrations that kept climate-change mitigation and decarbonization atop the national agenda. The administration of conservative President Rodrigo Chaves, who took office in May, announced it will give up its leadership role in the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, an inter-governmental group that advocates phasing out oil and gas production. A founder alongside Denmark, Costa Rica will likely remain a member but will “no longer be lead singers,” Environment Minister Franz Tattenbach said ahead of November’s COP27 climate summit in Egypt. While the government is enforcing a decree that prohibits oil and gas exploration nationwide, it will not attempt to enshrine the ban in national legislation. The previous administration of left-leaning Carlos Alvarado had proposed legislation to cement the ban, but the measure was never approved. And the new government has... [Log in to read more]