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22 Interview
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their competitiveness. Third, the environment has always been seen as a cost, rather than an opportunity. That has now changed.”
Evolve or be left behind Those that don’t understand this will be marginalized, he says: consumers will increasingly favour companies that supply low-carbon products and services, and businesses that are seen as leaders on the issue will attract the best talent. “We are at a tipping point; the carbon-
intensive economy has no future and will gradually be replaced by a new low- carbon alternative. Companies that don’t adapt will go out of business.” This is no idle theorizing from
Figueres – he has proved sustainability can improve the bottom line, in his case on a national scale. While president of Costa Rica, Figueres placed sustainable development at the heart of his economic programs, most notably introducing a tax on carbon emissions in 1995, which he cites as his proudest achievement. Proceeds of the tax went into an
environmental services fund that, for instance, paid farmers to cultivate tree plantations that “fixed” carbon or paid a fee to owners of watersheds near hydroelectric schemes for ensuring they preserved them.
“This tax made the link between
preserving the environment, job creation and new investment opportunities,”
CREATING CLIMATE WEALTH
he says. “Economic activity and the migration to a low-carbon economy are not mutually exclusive concepts; on the contrary, they reinforce each other. “If we hadn’t made sustainable
development the core of our strategy, Costa Rica would be much less competitive than it is today. “In addition, we wouldn’t have
been able to attract vital direct foreign investment, creating thousands of jobs. Nor would we have been able to build up clusters of competitiveness around the high tech and eco-tourism sectors. “Costa Rica proves that if countries and companies are proactive in terms of environmental policies – including them instead of excluding them, seeing them as an opportunity not a cost – they can improve their bottom line.”
Business as leaders By the end of his four-year term, the economy was growing at a rate of 8 percent per year, and direct foreign investment had surpassed 6 per cent of GNP. Figueres admits, however, it took him a while to make the connection between
“Economic activity and the migration to a low-carbon economy are not mutually exclusive concepts – on the contrary, they reinforce each other”
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