Establishing Climate Governance at a Sector Level: Costa Rica’s Sectoral Agreements

Costa Rica's Sectoral Agreements for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a response f the sectors to meet national and international commitments, such as the objectives of Sustainable evelopment Goals (SDGs) and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.

The Sectoral Agreements are being coordinated at the highest ministerial level and represent binding ommitments with concrete GHG reduction goals. Currently, agreements for the agriculture and ivestock and the transport sector have been established. They have been developed in a thorough rocess involving technical experts and actors from the sectoral ministries, relevant private sector epresentatives, academia and research institutions, among other relevant stakeholders. Through hese agreements, Costa Rica seeks to develop mitigation measures that support the transition of its ectors towards innovative and low-carbon development. The implementation of the agreements
will be guided by action plans that can be implemented in the short-, medium- and long-term. The greements are based on a set of principles. One of the most important of these principles points ut that the level of ambition shall be progressively increased by revising and renewing the set argets every 5 years.

The case represents a good practice because of the strong inter-sectoral cooperation between key takeholders, the innovative policy instrument used, and the replicability of the agreements.