If countries are looking for a cost-effective way to reduce their carbon footprint and pump in more clean energy, they might want to look to Uruguay as a pioneer for how to achieve that.

The Guardian is reporting that the South American country has cut down its carbon footprint dramatically without the help of government subsidies or by raising consumer costs over the past 10 years. Uruguay's head of climate change policy, Ramón Méndez, even told the news source that a whopping 94.5 percent of the country's electricity is now provided by renewables.

It's a stunning turnaround in a relatively short period of time, considering oil made up 27 percent of Uruguay's imports in 2000 and the country's new pipeline, at the time, was set to start supplying gas from Argentina, according to The Guardian. The country still uses oil, which accounts for 45 percent of the total energy mix.

So, how did Uruguay accomplish this? By utilizing everything from wind turbines to biomass, solar power and hydropower ... and using them effectively.

Méndez is so confident with Uruguay's clean approach that he challenged fellow world officials at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris this week with the national pledge to slice carbon emissions by 88 percent by 2017 compared with the average for 2009-2013.

"What we've learned is that renewables is just a financial business," Méndez said at the gathering, as reported by The Guardian. "The construction and maintenance costs are low, so as long as you give investors a secure environment, it is very attractive."

Attractive enough that Uruguay is getting to flex its muscle as a leader in the clean-energy space in South America and world amongst world politicians present for the Convention on Climate Change.