Mónica Araya is a

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

n emissions-free transportation advocate. She has been influential in making her country a leader in fossil free energy. She was considered one of the BBC's most influential and inspiring women in 2021.

Life

Araya was born in

. She has over twenty years experience as an advocate for sustainable living. She has master's degrees and a doctorate from the National University in Costa Rica and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Araya started for the thinktank E3G in 2009 and she was employed until 2011. She writes and in "International Investment for Sustainable Development: Balancing Rights and Rewards" she explained in 2012 how

foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an ownership stake in a company, made by a foreign investor, company, or government from another country. More specifically, it describes a controlling ownership an asset in one country by an entity based i ...

has been considered important in change in developed countries. However Araya considers that there was no evidence for this association. She considers how corporates, market forces and non governmental organisations can influence environmental change. In 2016 she was a member of the largest group of women to visit the Antarctic. In that year she gave a TED talk about the energy situation in Costa Rica. Despite being a developing country they generate nearly all of their electricity from renewable sources. However, as a country 70% of their energy came from oil and this was mainly due to the power required for transport. That one video had 1.4m views in 2021. Araya's TED talks include an interview by Chris Anderson. Her talk explains how transport can be moved to be electrically powered and about a global campaign named "Drive Electric". Araya founded the citizen organisation ''Costa Rica Limpia'' which has played a part in establishing Costa Rica as a leader in sustainability. During COP26 in Glasgow she was interviewed by Dave Malkoff of the

Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weathe ...

. In 2021 she was recognised as one of the

BBC's 100 Women ''100 Women'' is a BBC multi-format series established in 2013. The annual series examines the role of women in the 21st century and has included events in London and Mexico. Announcement of the list is the start of an international "BBC's wome ...

as a "defender of emission-free transport". The BBC recognised her in their science category as one of the years most "influential and inspiring" women.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Araya, Monica Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Costa Rican environmentalists Yale University alumni National University of Costa Rica alumni