Costa Rica pledges to be 'carbon neutral' by 2021

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, June 8 (Reuters) Costa Rica aims to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2021, President Oscar Arias said in a push to make the tiny Central American nation the first to offset all its carbon.

''Here's the big goal, which I am personally declaring for the first time tonight. By 2021, Costa Rica's 200th birthday, we will be a carbon neutral country,'' Arias said, yesterday.

Leaders of top industrial nations assembled in Germany agreed yesterday to pursue substantial but unspecified cuts in greenhouse gases and work with the United Nations to clinch a new deal to fight global warming by 2009.

Faced with mounting evidence that burning fossil fuels is the main cause of global warming, many nations and companies are looking at ways to reduce their net carbon output.

In April, world number five oil exporter Norway said it was aiming to get rid of its net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Costa Rican officials had previously announced plans to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions by 2027.

Officials say the country will clean up its fossil fuel-fired power plants, promote hybrid vehicles and increase tree planting to balance its emissions.

Costa Rica is an international leader on green issues, with protected areas like national parks and biological reserves covering more than a quarter of its territory.

Government programs have helped Costa Rica reforest. Trees now cover 51 percent of the country, a 10 percent increase over the last decade, Arias said.

The country generates 78 per cent of its energy with hydroelectric power and another 18 per cent by wind or geothermal power. It now plans to cut emissions from transport, farming and industry.

REUTERS JK PM0800