Innovations in Sustainability: BAC Credomatic Green Pass

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Author’s Note: This is the sixth item in a series of articles that touch on the subject of sustainable practices in Costa Rica. There is a high degree of innovation and street smarts involved in sustainability; if you happen to know of a good sustainability tip, please feel free to share it with The Costa Rica Star.

BAC San Jose, also known as BAC Credomatic, has launched an initiative whereby the financial institution seeks to protect thousands of acres of primary forest. The program is being coordinated along with the Foundation for the Development of the Central Volcanic Mountain Range (FUNDECOR in Spanish).

The goal is to collect $455,000 and apply them towards Payments for Environmental Services (PSA Solidario). In the past, The Costa Rica Star has written about this program, which is part of a monetary fund called the National Fund for Forestry Financing (FONAFIFO in Spanish). This government fund is authorized by our Forestry Law 7575 and is financed by a number of sources, particularly by taxes collected from fossil fuels. The fund serves a couple of purposes: it seeks to encourage environmental conservation by offering financing for different reforestation projects, and gives financial recognition and incentives to landowners who help protect green areas. This in turn provides ecological, social and economic benefits to the community.

This particular initiative by BAC Credomatic involves QuickPass, the wireless electronic dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) device that you can attach to your windshield and automatically pay tolls with on Route 27 between San Jose and Puerto Caldera.

To promote forest protection and conservation, BAC Credomatic will offer Green Pass, an enhanced version of QuickPass. For a $5 fee, BAC Credomatic will allocate $1 towards QuickPass credit, while the other $4 will go towards conservation of forest lands in our Central Mountain Range.

Green Pass customers will essentially pay for the conservation efforts, and for this voluntary donation BAC will give preferential service to account holders in their branch offices, and will also promote ecotourism activities with enticing discounts.

It may seem as if Green Pass holders will shoulder most of the financial responsibility in this initiative at the beginning, but in the future BAC Credomatic will extend funding to promoting carbon-neutral practices in our schools. President Laura Chinchilla has made it clear that in order to achieve our nation’s goal of carbon-neutrality by 2021, the private sector and all Ticos must participate. It will not be cheap, but considering the alternative (a loss of 2 percent of forest area each year on a national level), it is worth every effort.

Source: Mi Prensa

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