CABEI, the European Union and the German government support Correos de Costa Rica to implement sustainability actions in its operations

San Jose, June 28th, 2022.- A total of 19 branches of Correos de Costa Rica will produce their own electricity from solar panels and more than 100 vehicles will be replaced by electric vehicles with the support of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), which, through the Green MSMEs Initiative II, approved a non-reimbursable cooperation grant of US$59,150 to ensure the technical assistance the institution requires for the transition to renewable energy technologies.

The resources, which come from the tripartite Green MSMEs initiative executed by CABEI with resources from the European Union, through its Latin American Investment Facility (LAIF), the Government of Germany through KfW, and CABEI, will finance the consultancy to determine the technical specifications for equipment and materials, engineering designs, budget, and other details prior to the bidding process for equipment, construction of works and services related to both projects.

"Correos de Costa Rica is an emblematic institution not only in the country, but also in the region due to its capacity for transformation in the digital era, its great vocation towards MSMEs, to whom it provided fundamental support during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for the incorporation of green technology, which we are pleased to support today so that these two flagship projects have solid foundations for their execution," said CABEI Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi.

"Costa Rica remains a key partner for us that allows us to innovate in cooperation. With this type of initiative, we are consolidating the ambitious Costa Rican transition and green economy model, a model that makes it necessary to strategically mobilize public and private investments," said the European Union Ambassador to Costa Rica, María Antonia Calvo Puerta.

"Correos de Costa Rica is today the leading logistics company in the country. In 2021 alone we had more than 10 million deliveries, which meant a mobilization of nearly 620 vehicles that traveled 7.6 million kilometers throughout the national territory. This data is enough to measure the impact that our operation has on the environment, as well as the imperative need to take actions that seek to reduce the carbon footprint that our business activity leaves behind," said Jorge Solano, Correos de Costa Rica's CEO.

Correos de Costa Rica has been incorporating electric technology into its fleet since 2020; that year 49 motorcycles were added to the parcel distribution routes in urban and rural areas throughout the country, achieving 224,400 eco-deliveries; while by 2021 more than one million were made, which is expected to increase with the implementation of this cooperation.