Costa Rica. The USGBC (Green Building Council of the United States) and the Green Building Council of Costa Rica (GBC-CR) have signed a memorandum of understanding to help ensure that green buildings contribute significantly to Costa Rica's national effort.
Since 2015, Costa Rica has been working towards an ambitious goal of becoming a carbon neutral nation, and the National Decarbonization Plan for 2050 envisions actions that include all major sectors of the economy, from agriculture to transportation to construction.
Education and capacity-building
With the support of a strong new board of directors, GBC-CR President Elias Robles has important plans to promote green building nationally and regionally. Education and capacity building will be the main objectives of the new collaboration between the GBC of Costa Rica and the USGBC/GBCI.
GBC-CR has announced that its eighth annual conference, CICS2021 – Sustainable Cities International Conference, will resume this year as a virtual, global and free resource for the world. "This conference will set the tone for our education and capacity building efforts in the future," says Nicolás Ramírez, executive director of GBC-CR. The conference is free and details can be found online on the CICS2021 website.
Leadership in green building through LEED
Costa Rica has 227 LEED projects representing 2.3 million gross square meters of green building space, making it the strongest country for LEED in Central America and one of the top 10 countries for LEED in Latin America. While Costa Rica was one of the first countries in the region to move into a national quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is worth noting that the number of LEED projects grew in 2020. Green building growth has been very stable in Costa Rica, but as the world begins to recover from the pandemic, we expect to see the number of local LEED-certified projects grow even more.
The partnership between GBC-CR and USGBC will also focus heavily on sharing success stories and examples of leadership to inspire and motivate the broader market. As the examples from the various sectors below illustrate, there has been a large investment in LEED from both government and private companies in multiple sectors in Costa Rica.
Banking and finance
At both the public and private levels, Costa Rica's banking sector has used LEED as a way to mark its progress towards its ecological goals. The headquarters office of the Central Bank of Costa Rica achieved LEED Gold in 2019 and shows the power of the efforts of Costa Rica's public and private partnerships to promote sustainable construction. From the private sector, Banco Promerica certified three of its offices, including its Cartago offices in 2019, and locations in Liberia and Alajuela in 2020. Banco Promerica continues to accelerate the transformation of the market, offering green credit options to promote new sustainable and certified constructions.
Tourism and Hospitality
Costa Rica is a well-known destination for ecotourism, with LEED-certified infrastructure for both tourism and business travel. Local government investment in travel infrastructure is highly visible in the terminal building of San Jose National Airport - LEED Silver and in the National Convention Center - LEED Gold. Costa Rica also has 16 beautiful LEED-certified hotels, including the project campus for the W Hotel in Santa Cruz, with seven LEED-certified buildings.
Portfolio and campus
The largest number of LEED-certified projects in the country is in the commercial office space, with 71 projects. Regional developers such as Grupo Roble, winner of the USGBC Leadership Award, certified several buildings in their portfolio in 2019, the first in Central America to achieve LEED v4.1 for Operations and Maintenance for their buildings located in the region. Grupo Roble used the Arc platform to collect and track building performance data and then seek LEED certification. In keeping with its leadership commitment, the company continues to monitor performance at Arc.
From the public sector, a prominent office project for the Costa Rican Electricity Institute is a LEED Gold office in Santo Domingo measuring about 10,000 square meters.
Industrial and manufacturing facilities
Last but not least, a large number of manufacturers have certified their production spaces and warehouses. Contact lens manufacturer Coopervision was the first to use the Arc platform to certify its existing facilities to LEED. Other noteworthy examples include Phillips, Medtronic, CPS, and MicroTechnologies, all of which have recently earned LEED certification in Costa Rica.
The Future: Net Zero and LEED Zero
The buildings will play a key role in Costa Rica's efforts to achieve its goals of decarbonization and net-zero carbon emissions. "Our clean energy generation is excellent, but also very vulnerable to the effects of climate change," says Ramirez. "The resilience of the network will be tested more frequently as the effects of climate change continue to increase. Energy efficiency remains vital, even for green grids."
In addition, LEED's holistic approach to buildings calls on industry leaders to consider water use, location, transportation, and most of all, human health. Tools like Arc will create better benchmarks for building performance and help building managers reopen their doors safely after the pandemic. All of that feels within reach of a country committed to decarbonization and supported by a strong green building council dedicated to building community and transforming the market.
"We would love to celebrate Costa Rica's first LEED Zero project next year," says Ramirez. "That would be a truly excellent demonstration of our national goals and our commitment to a decarbonized future."
Learn more about LEED projects in Costa Rica by clicking here.
