States and municipalities are fundamental for fulfilling the climate agenda. Through their climate policies and programs, their actions are closely linked to those of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), as states and municipalities are in direct contact with the population and responsible for identifying the problems of their territorial ecosystems.

 

As part of the Third National Assembly of Mexico against Climate Change, the National Meeting of Federative Entities and their Contributions to the National Determined Contribution was held in order to share experiences and success stories, and discuss areas of opportunity and financing options between state and municipality representatives.

 

The workshop was organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH together with Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC). In attendance were leading climate representatives from 26 states of the republic, some of whom made presentations promoting their climate initiatives.

 

 

SEMARNAT began the workshop with a presentation about the progress of climate policies at the state level; INECC then discussed available tools that can help states improve their technical capacity in climate change mitigation. In addition, several success stories were shared from specific regions of the country—North, West, Central and Southeast—in which representatives discussed the processes, results and, most importantly, implementation challenges of their climate projects.

To better understand the characteristics of each region, participants took part in an exercise to discuss the feasibility of replicating the different climate projects in their own states. The working groups generated rich discussions, including about the common challenges facing states regarding shortages of technical personnel to implement projects and the lack of standardized methodologies. Also emphasized was the need to reinforce the interstate work in each region, given the territorial, social and political particularities of each state.

 

North Region

West Region

Central Region

Southeast Region

Climate change affects states indiscriminately. Therefore, it is important for local and state actors to share their experiences in order to strengthen the institutional work within and between states.

 

“We must stop thinking about borders. We have to think as a region because environmental problems do not respect territorial boundaries.” – West Region’s working group

In the same way, climate change should be treated as a cross-cutting issue that affects all policy agendas. Project financing is crucial for fulfilling both the NDC and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This was the subject of the final round of presentations, in which speakers stressed some the key factors affecting financial support, particularly that projects are financially sustainable and easily replicated.

Learn more about the following presentations:

Progress and tools

 

Mitigation projects with significant contributions to the NDC

 

Financing options