Carlos Alvarado Quesada has been a Member of Club de Madrid since 2022 and currently serves on the Board of Directors.
Carlos Alvarado Quesada served as the 48th President of the Republic of Costa Rica from May 2018 to May 2022.
Under President Alvarado’s leadership, Costa Rica contributed to global efforts to combat climate change and defended human rights, democracy, and multilateralism. His innovative approach to sustainable energy, his ambitious climate policies, and his highly successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely recognised.
President Alvarado is a recipient of the 2022 Planetary Leadership Award by the National Geographic Society for his outstanding commitment and action towards protecting the ocean. In September 2019, he also received on behalf of his country the Champion on the Earth Award, presented by the United Nations Environment Program. In November 2019, he was named one of TIME’s 100 Next emerging leaders around the world.
In February 2019, President Alvarado launched Costa Rica’s National Decarbonisation Plan, which established the road map to decarbonize the country’s economy by 2050. Its administration organised the run-up to the U.N. Climate Change Conference – COP25 in Madrid, and created with France and the United Kingdom the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People which now includes more than one hundred member states.
President Alvarado’s prior government leadership service includes a tenure as Minister of Labour and Social Security (2016-2018), as Minister of Human Development and Social Inclusion (2014 – 2016), and as Executive President of the Joint Social Welfare Institute, responsible for implementing social protection and promoting poverty alleviation programs. Before entering politics, he worked for Procter & Gamble, Latin America.
Alvarado holds a Bachelor’s in journalism, an MSc in Political Science from the University of Costa Rica and received a master’s degree in development studies from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at Sussex University, United Kingdom. He currently is a Professor of Practice at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and is also a Richard von Weizsäcker fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy.
