Carlos Alvarado Quesada served as the president of the Republic of Costa Rica from 2018 to 2022, when his constitutionally-limited term ended. Under Alvarado’s leadership, Costa Rica contributed to global efforts to combat climate change and defend human rights, democracy, and multilateralism.
As president, Alvarado made climate change a top priority, launching a National Decarbonization Plan with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. He is the recipient of the 2022 Planetary Leadership Award from the National Geographic Society for his outstanding commitment and action to protect the ocean. On behalf of his country, he received the 2019 United Nations Environment Program’s Champions of the Earth award for policy leadership. In November 2019, Alvarado was named one of TIME’s 100 emerging leaders around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership.
Alvarado’s prior government service includes a tenure as minister of labor and social security, minister of human development and social inclusion, and executive president of the Joint Social Welfare Institute. Before entering government, he worked for Procter and Gamble, Latin America.
Alvarado is a professor of practice at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University. He has a Master of Arts from the University of Sussex and a Master of Science and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Costa Rica.