Former Costa Rican President and longtime sustainable-development advocate José María Figueres took a first step this month in his bid to return as chief executive, winning a Feb. 6 first-round election to become the favorite in a runoff scheduled for April 3. Figueres, who championed environmental protection while president from 1994 to 1998, has pledged to invest in renewable power and to use green energy to produce hydrogen fuel for vehicles. Costa Rica has stated its goal to become carbon neutral by 2050, though it missed an initial goal to fully decarbonize by 2021. The country has been a regional leader in renewable power generation and carbon sequestration through woodland conservation, but has had difficulty curbing greenhouse-gas emissions in its transportation sector. In his campaign, Figueres, the 67-year-old son of three-time Costa Rican President José Figures Ferrer, has fiercely opposed fossil fuel extraction. He... [Log in to read more]