The harsh reality has forced a landmark in environmental topics, the postponement of the date for achieving its goal of carbon neutrality, abandoing the impossible target of 2021 replacing it with sometime between 2050 and 2100.
Recognizing the impracticality of trying to meet such an ambitious goal as the one initially proposed, the government is preparing a new official plan to be presented later this month, with effect from 2020 and which includes new targets.
Having certified 2,400 acres of the canal basin and invested $19 million since 2009, the Panama Canal Authority is negotiating with companies interested in purchasing the credits.
In order to recover the investment made in the certification of 2,400 carbon free hectares of canal basin, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) will be issuing carbon credits, which may be purchased by companies seeking to minimize the impact of their carbon footprint.
The Costa Rican body responsible for accreditation has certified the Standards Institute of Costa Rica as the first accredited body to verify carbon footprints.
A statement from the Standards Institute of Costa Rica (INTECO) reads:
Costa Rica has its first accredited body to verify carbon footprints
• Domestic and foreign companies may be verified by INTECO.
Seven Costa Rican companies have received Carbon Neutral Certification and 23 have begun the certification process.
"This certification is an official system launched by the Government and is based on the National Carbon Neutrality Standard: voluntary standard INTE -12-01-06:2011", reported Nacion.com.
The standard was launched by the Ministry of Environment and Energy (Minae) in 2011 and ensures that accredited companies meet the requirements necessary to mitigate gas emissions. The accrediting body of the certification is the Standards Institute of Costa Rica (Inteco).
Eight Panamanian projects have been authorized by a UN commission to sell carbon credits on global markets and there are 24 initiatives in the evaluation phase.
The Executive Board of Clean Development Mechanisms of the United Nations Convention Framework on Climate Change, is the body which has authorized eight projects established in Panama to sell carbon credits on the international market.
The $ 400.000 raised will go to manage forests in an 11 hectare area in Petén.
U.S. Company Global Carbon Group agreed to buy carbon credits from the mayors of San Jose and San Francisco in the first operation of its kind in Guatemala, and thus offsetting 1.2 million tons of greenhouse gases for 20 years.
For Guatemala this type of arrangement is an alternative to stop deforestation in the country.
The hub will be located in the City of Knowledge, a business, scientific and Technological Park, with the objective of promoting the sale of carbon credits.
The project includes Spanish company Madrid Network, which will sign an agreement to install the center.
The main objective of the center, which expects to be operational in 2011, will be to advise businesses on how to obtain fair prices for their carbon credits.
Starting with its name, Nature Air, the Costa Rican airline is an example of skill in the marketing of its strength as an ecological flagship.
Since 2004, the company has been offsetting its carbon emissions by contributing cash to the National Forestry Financing Fund of Costa Rica for the protection of over 200 hectares of native forest on the Osa Peninsula.