Jelle Van Loon, Researcher at the Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico.
José Luis Samaniego Leyva, Director of the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Key Panel Messages:
The topics addressed by the panelists focused mainly on 4 points:
Inter-agency Coordination
Productive improvement
Knowledge Dialogue
Economic valuation of biodiversity
Climate change and biodiversity are two closely related aspects. The loss of biodiversity increases humanity’s vulnerability to climate change, and its conservation increases its resilience. For example, in the agricultural context, the ability of many producers to face longer droughts or the appearance of new pests depends on the genetic diversity of cultivated varieties where some will have characteristics of greater resistance to one or another problem.
Mexico is home to 10% of the planet’s diversity. In germplasm banks, it protects seeds of 1300 species of native crops.
The dialogue of knowledge between academics, producers and government is essential to develop agricultural practices that are more effective in the face of climate change uncertainty.
It is urgent to strengthen the link between scientific knowledge and local knowledge.
Biodiversity is a cultural issue. To the extent that markets recognize biodiversity, as well as the people who protect it, it can be used sustainably.
It is necessary to use the purchasing power of the State to promote the consumption of native varieties.
Appellations of origin, as well as labeling, allow adding value to products based on native varieties and small-scale productions.
Appellations of origin imply a legal struggle, while labeling represents a simpler instrument of consumer information to apply.
It is essential to give value to biodiversity and integrate it into the population’s diet.
When looking for a sustainable energy route and promoting the making of politically effective decisions that generate socio-economic benefits for the country, the following question arises: How can energy efficiency and renewable energy improve the lives of Mexicans?
The co-benefits of climate action can enhance an inclusive energy transition and connect multiple agendas to contribute to sustainable development. It is precisely in this context that “Co-benefits Mexico” of the project Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico (CONECC) develops the study Co-benefits of Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency for Sustainable Development in Mexico in order to connect the socio-economic opportunities of the energy sector to greenhouse gas mitigation strategies.
GIZ credits. Participants of the National Results Workshop. August 15, 2019, Mexico City.
As part of the research process, dialogue sessions were held in Mexico City in August with more than 80 actors from the public, private, academic and non-governmental sectors at the state and federal levels through the results presentation workshop of the project and during a work meeting on climate-energy convergence in the subnational sphere. The first of these spaces was aimed at presenting the results of the four case studies developed in Baja California Sur, Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Yucatán. The objective was to manage to socialize the results of the studies, generate dialogue on opportunities to enhance the co-benefits at the state and national levels, and obtain feedback to formulate public policy options that enable their use.
Credits: GIZ Participants of the Working Meeting with Subnational Actors for a climate-energy agenda. August 16, 2019, Mexico City, Mexico.
On the other hand, during the work meeting, the co-benefits subject was registered as part of a potential climate-energy work agenda with eight state governments; seeking to delimit a route for the local implementation of Co-benefits Mexico. Within the framework of this dialogue, CONECC was also able to discuss: support with the mainstreaming of climate issues in energy policy instruments, subnational carbon budgets, and state hubs for energy innovation.
In October 2019, the CONECC project facilitated a work trip to Berlin with the participation of the Government of the State of Baja California Sur and the Government of the State of Oaxaca. Both were part of the Co-benefits for a Fair Energy Future Conference with the objective of presenting case studies and encouraging international politicalexchange with representatives from other countries.
Credits: GIZ Presentation of Case Studies at the Co-benefits for a Fair Energy Future Conference. October 15, 2019, Berlin, Germany.
Co-benefits Mexico is now in its consolidation phase. The following steps include writing the final report Co-benefits of Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency for Sustainable Development in Mexico in December 2019, which will reflect the results of the cases and the knowledge acquired throughout the project activities.
Once published, the study will be presented together with the 2030 Agenda project implemented by GIZ and the study Crunching Numbers: Quantifying the Sustainable Development Co-Benefits of Mexico’s Climate Commitments at the beginning of 2020 in a national launching event. Among the next steps are also the participation in bilateral dialogues with state governments and exploring schemes of technical support to their ambitious mitigation agendas through a co-benefits approach.
The vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) has its center of origin in Mexico, which was the world’s leading producer until the mid-nineteenth century. However, today vanilla production and wild populations in Mexico are in decline. The Mainstreaming of Biodiversity within Mexican Agriculture (IKI-IBA) promotes the vanilla value chain in the region Huasteca Hidalguense for sustainable production, with a focus on assessment of ecosystemic services. This will allow actors in the chain to generate agreements to promote sustainable production practices, provide added value to the product, and thereby generate better revenues and product quality throughout the chain.
The project activities began in February 2019 with a workshop based on the ValueLinks methodology, developed by GIZ, with key actors in the value chain, in which the chain was mapped and an action plan and a monitoring committee for the promotion of the chain were generated.
Créditos: GIZCréditos: GIZ
In this context and as part of the monitoring of the activities of the work plan, a workshop was organized in Huejutla, Hidalgo, on November 20 and 21, 2019, where an exchange of experiences of vanilla producers from the Northern Sierra of Puebla and the Huasteca Hidalguense took place.
Producers shared, documented, and validated the biodiversity-friendly productive practices of vanilla producers in the Northern Sierra of Puebla and the Huasteca Hidalguense. The practices were systematized with the help of a graphic facilitator, which will allow the information to be disseminated in a visual and simple way. Based on these best productive practices, and in collaboration with the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), a manual of best practices and training materials for the cultivation of biodiversity-friendly vanilla will be generated.
Likewise, the initiatives implemented around the production of sustainable vanilla in the region were presented. Among them, the participation of the company Mesoamericana Vainilla, which seeks to promote the production of high quality vanilla with sustainable practices, as well as the results of the study carried out by Fundación Bioma A.C. on the value of ecosystemic services for vanilla production, with a focus on pollination, should be highlighted. Finally, the group was trained in organizational strengthening, which provided the actors in the chain with tools and advice to strengthen the organization within their groups. The results of this training include a mapping of actors, resources and productive vocation of each municipality involved in the value chain, as well as exercises to strengthen communication, cooperation, and organization of the groups. On the other hand, the monitoring committee was restructured, and a communication mechanism was established.
For the second consecutive year, the “Climate Financing Day in Mexico” was celebrated with great success, with more than 40 panelists over 200 participantes, in addition to over 60virtual participants via streaming These panelists were part of the dialogue among diverse and important actors from various sectors on the mobilization of resources for climate action in Mexico.
On this occasion, the objective of the Climate Financing Day in Mexico 2019 was to facilitate a multi-actor dialogue on financing access, allocation, management, and mobilization to accelerate climate action and comply with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.
Expert panelists, representatives of the public and private sectors, civil society and academia at national and international level participated in this important forum, with the purpose of generating knowledge and dialogue about the needs on how to strengthen the mobilization of climate finance in Mexico and to help address the different challenges to achieve a more sustainable and equitable development.
Specifically, the discussion was framed by eight panels that dealt with subjects including:
Climate finance governance
The link between market and fiscal instruments
Integration of climate change in financial risks
Financing for the democratization of energy and energy efficiency
Experiences on the mobilization of climate financing in Latin America
Financing for the integral management of urban solid waste and circular economy
Financing focused on the improvement of cities regarding resilient infrastructure
The Climate Financing Day was held on Thursday, November 21 at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Santa Fe Campus, organized by the 2030 Agenda Department within the Office of the President of the Republic, the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC), with the special support of the programs Mexican-German Climate Change Alliance, FELICITY and GADer-ALC of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) , as well as Mexican Transparency. It represents the interest, effort, solid support, and consolidation of the organization of several actors interested in exchanging experiences and generating discussions and alternatives around the problem of climate change in Mexico and the ways to increase financing towards adaptation and mitigation measures.
An Emissions Trading System (ETS) imposes the obligation to comply on the facilities regulated under the System (generally of the energy and industry sectors), requiring that each ton of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emitted by them is backed by an allowance. The ETS allows some flexibility, incorporating the use of offsets as an alternative to fulfill the facilities’ obligations. Offsets are generated in emission reduction projects carried out in sectors that are not regulated by the ETS (eg. in forestry, livestock, etc.), thus encouraging mitigation in different parts of the economy.
Before the implementation of the ETS, Mexico had had experiences in emissions reduction projects. On the one hand, within the framework of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, Mexico hosted projects producing Certified Emission Reductions (CER).
Besides, there is a Voluntary Carbon Market in Mexico in which private companies or individuals can choose to buy Verified Emissions Reductions (VER) or carbon credits voluntarily. All three instruments are mechanisms that provide additional, real and verifiable GHG emission reductions. Likewise, all three guarantee an effective reduction through the incorporation of rigorous methodologies.
Credits: Shutterstock.
Offsets in an Emissions Trading System
In an ETS that incorporates offsets, the government grants an offset credit with the regulated entity in exchange for the reduction of the GHG equivalent to an allowance. Commonly, a maximum limit is permitted for the use of offsets to prove compliance. This occurs because offsets, despite ensuring the global reduction of GHG, lower the price of the allowances and discourage the mitigation of emissions in the regulated sectors. However, if the criteria for effective reduction are guaranteed with protocols, offsets reduce compliance costs and promote sustainable development through their co-benefits.
One factor that makes the use of compensation attractive is the relationship it has with the CDM and voluntary market projects. For project reductions to be real, additional, permanent, verifiable, quantifiable and applicable, they use rigorous methodologies approved by the government that contemplate an MRV system (monitoring, reporting, and verification). This allows incorporating into the ETS some of the projects previously developed under the Kyoto Protocol or the voluntary market. However, it should be noted that offsets, unlike the other two mechanisms, are used by regulated entities of the ETS to comply.
Clean Development Mechanism in the international context
The Kyoto Protocol, born within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), creates the obligation to reduce GHG emissions for industrialized countries (Annex I countries). To make compliance more flexible, it contemplates the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM), among other market instruments. CDM projects are voluntary projects that Annex I countries develop in non-industrialized countries (non-Annex I countries, including Mexico) to reduce emissions in the host country. The CDM generates Certified Emission Reductions (CER), which serve to ensure that Annex I countries follow their international commitments.
CDM projects use protocols approved by the United Nations that ensure that the reductions are effective. There is a wide range of methodologies that deal with different types of activities, such as chemical management, land use, construction, and transportation. Several methodologies and projects developed under the CDM can be adopted by the offsets scheme of an ETS, so they represent an important source of learning. Despite this, it is necessary to keep in mind that the CDM projects are developed by industrialized countries to meet their international commitments, not by regulated entities to comply with the ETS.
Verified Emissions Reductions (VER) in the voluntary markets
Voluntary carbon market projects seek to generate emission reductions in an unregulated manner, so they are not mandatory. Instead, they are purchased by companies or institutions to fulfill their environmental responsibility. The certificates, like the two previous mechanisms, are tradeable and market instruments. These projects have a purely voluntary nature and are not used to comply with an ETS or meet international commitments, as in the other two cases.
The certificates of these projects, also known as Verified Emissions Reductions (VER), are developed by private agents and backed by independent verifiers. Some of the most used verifiers are Gold Standard, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and BMV Standard. Each of these verifiers uses different methodologies, so they can serve as a source of learning for the offset scheme of an ETS.
In order to contribute to climate change goals, the Nitric Acid Climate Action Group (NACAG) initiative assists Mexico and 30 other governments around the world in generating a regulatory framework to reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions caused by the manufacturing process of nitric acid.
Créditos: GIZ. Nitric Acid Climate Action Group
While nitric acid is an important product for the chemical industry, since it is primarily used for the production of fertilizers, its manufacturing process emits N2O, a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 265 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO2). In Mexico, the sector has an annual mitigation potential of approximately 515,000 tCO2e, emitted by 3 facilities, and representing 6.5% of the national target for reducing industrial emissions by 2030.
In order to promote the production of low emission nitric acid, the NACAG initiative provides technical advice and financial support for the installation of abatement technology in nitric acid plants. Financing is also offered for the installation of emission monitoring technology, thus strengthening the national GHG emissions inventory; as well as for hiring and training of personnel in charge of technology.
In order to advise the Mexican government, thetechnical team of NACAG has carried out a study evaluating the options of legal instruments that affirm, in the long term, the reduction of N2O emissions in the sector. A catalog of various policy mechanisms (regulatory, fiscal, market and voluntary) that allow continuity to the commitments that Mexico would assume when joining the initiative was identified. In addition, as a result of a consultation process with key actors in the public and private sector, a roadmap was developed considering different implementation scenarios.
Evaluation of instruments for the regulation of N2O in the nitric acid sector
In this regard, the current situation on the start of the pilot program of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) represents an opportunity to regulate the emissions of the nitric acid sector through existing institutional frameworks and at low transaction costs. It is proposed to take benefit from the current institutional framework around the ETS , integrating nitric acid sector reductions as an additional sector in the compensation program. In this way, the continuous mitigation of N2O is encouraged, allowing nitric acid producers to generate compensation credits.
The evaluation of different sectors to be considered in the compensation program, coordinated jointly by SEMARNAT and GIZ, has identified several preliminary advantages of the sector, such as optimal market conditions, a robust legal framework, and the cost-effectiveness of mitigation. Likewise, the Technical Secretariat of NACAG has begun to develop a protocol for the management of reductions that will be presented to the member countries and will be modified according to their national needs. This protocol will serve as a support to the Mexican government during the design of methodologies for the proper functioning of the compensation program.
The NACAG initiative is a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
In recent years, the concept of the carbon budget has become important not only as a metric to define global climate mitigation goals, but also as an indicator to broaden ambition and strengthen the fulfillment of these goals. The carbon budget is the maximum cumulative amount of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions over a period, to limit the increase in the average temperature of the earth within a certain range.
This study presents a methodology developed by Mexico’s Climate Initiative (ICM) with the support of the project “Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico” (CONECC) implemented by GIZ. This methodology seeks to estimate the electricity sector and Mexico’s carbon budget, in order to contribute as a country to the goal of limiting the global average temperature increase below 2 °C (and considerations for a 1.5-°C scenario), established in the Paris Agreement.
According to the study, Mexico’s carbon budget from 2019 to 2100 is 22.2 GtCO2e, which means that if the country continues at the same rate of emissions, its carbon budget would be depleted by 2040. In the case of the electricity sector, the available carbon budget is 3.9 GtCO2e until 2100. These results strengthen the need for climate goals with greater ambition.
The study also demonstrates the feasibility of complying with the electricity sector carbon budget if a series of assumptions that lead to the convergence of climate and energy policies are considered, including a participation of more than 50 percent of renewable energy in electricity generation, accompanied by energy efficiency measures in the final consumption sectors.
In 2019, the project BioPaSOS has advanced with its objective of promoting and strengthening sustainable livestock in Mexico, specifically in Chiapas, Jalisco and Campeche; through capacity building, research for decision-making and generation of inter-institutional alliances. Currently, BioPaSOS impacts in 20 municipalities.
Credits: BioPaSOS project. Participants of the Workshop for the Promotion of Collaborative Work for the Development of Sustainable cattle raising in Chiapas
Through the implementation of Farmer Field Schools (FFS), the project has trained 1,231 producers on 35 different subjects such as biodiversity conservation and monitoring, positive cattle raising practices, pasture management, forage banks, setting silvopastoral systems, management of natural resources, and others. This methodology has reached nearly 13,200 people
In Campeche, 80.5% of the people who received training with the FFSs were men and 19.5% were women. In Chiapas, 68.82% were men and 31.18% were women; while in Jalisco 80.5% were men and 19.5% were women.
Credits: BioPaSOS project. Workshop to strengthen technical capacities held in Jalisco
In addition, 68 technicians from local institutions and about 100 university students have strengthened their knowledge of sustainable cattle raising, by participating in workshops, keynote talks, demonstration days, FFS, guided tours, and exchange of experiences. In turn, six virtual forums led by experts have been developed, with the participation of 351 people from across Latin America.
This effort is accompanied by the formation of groups that include the public sector, academia, civil associations and producers. In Campeche, the Sustainable Cattle Raising Learning Community was created, in Chiapas participationin the Healthy and Responsible Cattle-Raising Group has taken place, and in Jalisco work is being done on the construction of the Silvopastoral Working Group of the South Coast Region.
Credits: BioPaSOS Workshop with Chiapas technicians on the establishment of silvopastoral systems
Also, in Chiapas, CATIE participates, through BioPASOS, in the Technical Advisory Committee of REDD +, a space formed by State Secretariats, NGOs and others, which contributes to generating recommendations to develop sustainable production strategies.
On the other hand, only in 2019 six investigations have been carried out with research centers and academics of each state.
BioPaSOS closes 2019 by maintaining formal alliances with 38 local partners, including government, academic, scientific, private sector institutions, NGOs, and cattle raising associations.
This initiative has been implemented since 2017 by CATIE, with IICA, and the support of SADER and CONABIO.
In 2019, the National Interpretation process of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil in Mexico was completed, which aimed to develop guidelines so that the Principles and Criteria of the standard are relevant to the context of the country.
The national interpretation served as a space to discuss priority issues such as: fair working conditions, respect for local communities and their right to land, no logging of forests, and reduction of greenhouse gases.
Pronatura Sur, actively participated in the following areas:including the socio-environmental particularities of oil palm producing states in Mexico; trying to ensure the recognition of the social and environmental effects of large-scale land conversion in monoculture plantations, as well as looking for mechanisms to mitigate those effects.
Finally, local governments, government agencies, industry and consumers are expected to be involved in the implementation of the standard. In addition, it is necessary to implement the law, in parallel with the standard, at the national and regional levels in order to ensure that companies and producers adhere to the bans of deforesting the country’s forests. Southern Mexico must move towards a production with a long-term vision that includes the preservation of its natural capital.
In both events, experts on climate change, sustainable development, biodiversity, and natural resources provided a space for a high-level political dialogue from different perspectives.
Both events are expected to set the basis for joint coordination and collaboration between territorial sectors, environmental policies and between state and civil society, to address national and state climate change challengesn integrada del territorio. ada, gobiernos y comunidades locales es, quienes esarrollo sostenible. cional que se requiere para e and integrated territory management, contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals .
One of the most important achievements of 2019 in the area of sustainable forest management for the State of Chiapas was the development of a system of biometric models as a silvicultural tool for the management of forests with timber potential.
Credits: Pronatura Sur. Workshop of biometrics models
This system consists of a series of equations derived from the trunk analysis, which allow to perform reliable estimates of the volumetric stock of the forests of the state of Chiapas.
The results of this project include the following equations:
120 volume rates
40 product distribution
40 profile functions
10 site index
This biometric system establishes a solid scientific basis for taking advantage of sustainable management of the most economically important species, placing Chiapas within the states with the greatest potential of timber production in Mexico, in addition to contributing to the design, formulation, execution, evaluation, and monitoring of forest management programs of communities and state properties.
Credits: Pronatura Sur. Field Practice of Biometric Models
For the transition to low-emission rural development (LED-R), changes in the incentive system are required, understood as various mechanisms to generate productivity in agricultural activities, particularly those that promote production systems that drive deforestation or generate large amounts of emissions such as the agricultural sector.
The credits for production, the reduction of some taxes on value chains with a lower climatic footprint and the payment for environmental services, are just some examples of incentives used in rural development.
In this case, the state of Chiapas is an example of the importance of integrating a cross-cutting incentive policy, since 76% of the state’s emissions come from the change in land, forest clearing, agriculture, and cattle raising.
Pronatura Sur is currently working on a document as a basis to explore the construction of an incentive mechanism for Low-Emission Rural Development in Chiapas, which has been one of the states most favored by federal financing for rural development. Howver, at the same time, there is no improvement in the living conditions of producers who continue to live in situations of extreme poverty.
The document proposes to finance a jurisdictional system of incentives at the state level, driven by a strategic collaboration between local actors, with the objective of contributing to the debate of high impact and transformational change required to eradicate poverty, mitigate climate change, and achieve sustainable development goals.
