The exchange of experiences is a key factor for the development of the municipalities’ climate policy. Considering the above, with the beginning of the elaboration of the Municipal Climate Change Program (MCCP) of Puerto Vallarta, a portal that seeks to promote these actions, as well as promoting work and knowledge networks among actors and municipalities in the development of their programs was created.
As part of Jalisco’s efforts to combat climate change, the municipality of Puerto Vallarta has begun its activities for the development of its Municipal Climate Change program, based on the Guide for the development or updating of the MCCP. During this process the importance of opening a public space was recognized as a fundamental step for the follow-up of its activities and the exchange of information. For this, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Cooperation for Sustainable Development) supported the creation of a MCCP Portal in Mexico, which was presented in a webinar on April 9th of this year. In the webinar, the experience of Jalisco in implementing the guide, the progress and lessons learned from Puerto Vallarta in the preparation of its program and a brief user guide to interact with the portal was presented.
In that sense, since last February 2019, the municipality of Puerto Vallarta has been sharing stage by stage its activities and progress through this portal. Additionally, on the blog you can find the achievements and challenges of the municipality for the development of its MCCP, videos, studies and documents of common interest related to climate change. In this way, other municipalities can follow the process of developing their program and in turn can share their own experiences.
The MCCP Portal of Mexico is available on Energypedia, a platform available to the public where knowledge on renewable energy, access to energy and energy efficiency is exchanged. On the site, you can find an interaction guide with the portal step by step, framework questions for writing articles, the complete Guide, among other tools for the development of the MCCP.
For more information about this Portal, access the following links:
Presentation webinar of the MCCP Portal in Mexico.
Puerto Vallarta continues its activities in the development of its Municipal Climate Change Program (MCCP) and prepares to complete the development of the instrument. To this end, the development process of measures, the current status of the program and the next steps to conclude the MCCP was presented to different actors.
With the Webinar “Presentation of adaptation and mitigation measures for the MCCP of Puerto Vallarta”, the municipality prepares to take its Program to public consultation along with the measures that will shape it and will fight climate change in the coming years. Through the webinar, the municipality presented some of the measures that will make up its MCCP to different actors and sectors, as well as the cost-benefit analysis process to ensure the feasibility and long-term impact of the measures.
For the first part of the webinar, the audience was contextualized on the issue of climate change, its mainstreaming and the legal framework at national, state and municipal levels. In the second section, the process of elaboration of the proposed measures for the MCCP was deepened. It was pointed out that these are the result of participatory work carried out by different actors, the municipality and the state in previous workshops. Additionally, the methodology used for the cost-benefit analysis by which each of the measures is evaluated to define their traceability in the long term was explained. Finally, the municipality mentioned the participation process for public consultation, for which they will carry out two face-to-face consultation forums, online and printed questionnaires, and an email to receive comments and observations on the program once it is completed.
Dr. Helios Hernández, Deputy Director of Environment of the Municipality, highlighted the importance of having qualified staff to deal with climate change. Additionally, he mentioned the challenge involved in mainstreaming this issue in all units and stressed that everyone’s participation is a fundamental step to address climate change from all angles. In this sense, the councilor of Ecology Ma. Del Refugio Pulido Cruz, Claudia Constancia Institutional Development Officer, and Dr. Jorge Téllez from La Costa University Center attended the webinar transmission.
The Webinar was held on July 17th of this year, with attendees from the private and public sectors, academia, and civil society. This Webinar, as well as the elaboration of the MCCP of this municipality, was supported by the Ministry of Environment and Territorial Development (SEMADET) of the State of Jalisco, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Cooperation for Sustainable Development ), through the projects Vertically Integrated Climate Protection (VICLIM) and Ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change in cooperation with the Private Sector in Mexico (ADAPTUR).
Photo: GIZ Webinar participant team.
As next steps, the municipality with the support of GIZ will continue the process of prioritization of mitigation measures and adaptation to climate change. This will be possible with the cost benefit analysis that is being carried out to determine the feasibility, profitability and success of each of the measures. Once this process is completed, the MCCP will be subject to public consultation, ensuring the strengthening of the Program with the participation of all actors.
With the intention of strengthening the design of the Mexican Emissions Trading System (ETS), and in view of the upcoming launch of the ETS pilot phase in 2020, the project “Preparation of an Emissions Trading System in Mexico” (SiCEM) from GIZ continuously carries out capacity development activities for different actors –public and private– relevant to the design, implementation and operation of an ETS.
The ETS Academy Mexico –a three-day seminar that brought together international experts with officials from different Mexican Ministries and governmental institutions relevant to the development of an ETS– was organized to share best practices and lessons learned and facilitate the design of the ETS in Mexico.
The workshop took place on July 23rd, 24th and 25th, 2019 at Casa Lamm, in Mexico City. It was convened by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), together with the World Bank’s Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) and the project “Preparation of an Emissions Trading System in Mexico (SiCEM)” implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Environment (BMU), and with the support of the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), an internationally recognized forum that brings together governments and public authorities that have established or are in the process of developing an ETS.
Credits: GIZ
The course was attended by representatives of a variety of institutions, such as SEMARNAT, the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR), the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA), the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (CONAMER), as well as Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).
In addition to theoretical sessions on different essential technical elements for an ETS, such as cap design, allocation alternatives, offset program design or Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems, international experts of jurisdictions such as California, Quebec, China, Ukraine and Germany shared their practical experiences, and lessons learned in the process, in order to facilitate the design, implementation and operation of the ETS in Mexico. Likewise, SEMARNAT presented the advances made so far in the design of secondary regulations of the Mexican ETS pilot phase.
Credits: GIZ
The course started with an overview of the role of ETS in Mexico and globally to accelerate climate action, always within a broader mix of climate policies. Highlighting the importance of this instrument to modify behavior and make structural changes towards a low carbon economy, the need for the design of the instrument to be robust and generate certainty to promote emission reduction was recognized. The relevance of having a diversity of actors in its design and implementation was also emphasized.
Credits: GIZ
On the second day, everyone had the opportunity to learn more about the flexibility mechanisms in an ETS. After learning about the international experiences –including the Latin-American experience– in the development of compensation projects, an interactive session on different kinds of compensation projects was held.
Credits: GIZ
Further discussion centered on carbon revenue generation through auctions, as well as on the socioeconomic benefits that revenue use has brought in other jurisdictions with an ETS in operation. For example, in different jurisdictions around the world carbon revenues are used to support communities and households vulnerable to the energy transition, foster clean technologies (energy efficiency, energy storage, electro-mobility, renewable energy), finance R&D in innovative low carbon technologies, etc. The day concluded with an interesting interactive activity that encouraged the convergence of positions regarding the design of an ETS, by inviting participants to take on the role of different actors (e.g. Presidency, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Environment, Electrical Generators Association, Industries Association, Farmers Association, or environmental NGOs) and negotiate the different design elements.
Credits: GIZ
Finally, the third day focused on elements of MRV, governance and transparency in the ETS, highlighting the role of the Registry in warranting the environmental integrity of the System. The behavior of the allowance market was further discussed, including international experiences in its management and intervention mechanisms to maintain market stability, which is key for participating companies to achieve proper carbon management in their facilities.
Credits: GIZ
The following months prior to the implementation of the ETS pilot phase are key to developing capacities in the relevant actors, as well as to continue with the design of a strong and effective pilot phase. In the coming months, the capacity development efforts carried out, as well as additional technical studies to strengthen the design of the system, will continue to be presented on the “IKI-Alliance Mexico” blog.
In addition to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the introduction of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures can bring multiple social, environmental and economic benefits. These actions can generate employment, increase energy independence, generate additional savings and income, and even bring benefits to health and environment. These types of direct or indirect benefits that result from climate change mitigation actions are called co-benefits. In a country like Mexico, whose energy system is still dominated by fossil fuels (68.9% of the power generation capacity in 2018), a co-benefits-oriented narrative presents the enormous opportunity to promote a fair and inclusive energy transition.
Photo by: DENNIS SCHROEDER / NREL.
The Co-benefits Mexico project aims to identify and communicate the economic, social and environmental benefits derived from the implementation of renewable energies and energy efficiency to strengthen decision-making and promote the decarbonization of the electricity sector. As part of the project, four case studies are developed in Yucatan, Baja California Sur, Mexico City and Oaxaca; the implementation of which involved regional workshops with key actors in each region studied. The case studies, listed below, will seek to scale their results nationwide to assess the potential of different co-benefits and link them to meeting Mexico’s climate goals:
Case studies Cobenefits Mexico
Energy efficiency and renewable energy in public sector buildings (hospitals), in Mexico City and La Paz, Baja California Sur
Energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings in the tourism sector (hotels) in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur
Renewable energies and employment opportunities they generate, national and regional analysis in Oaxaca and Yucatan.
Renewable energy and its benefits in cost savings and income generation for the communities of Oaxaca and Yucatan.
Photo: Climate Initiative Mexico (Iniciativa Climática de México) – Francisco Valdéz. Attendees at the CDMX Cobenefits workshop.
The regional COBENEFITS workshops were aimed to present preliminary results, promote the appropriation of studies by key actors, and obtain their feedback. These were carried out in June 2019 and endowed the research team with perspectives of some 200 key actors. They were attended by academics, civil society, private sector representatives and state governments involved. The results of these meetings will lead to, together with the modeling of the co-benefits to be analyzed, the integration of a report that will be presented to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) in a presentation workshop in mid-August 2019.
Photo: Climate Initiative Mexico – Francisco Valdéz. Oscar Vázquez – SEDEMA, Sandra Guzmán Luna – SEMARNAT, Jonas Russbild – CONECC GIZ, and Daniel Chacón – Iniciativa Climática de México in the CDMX COBENEFITS workshop.
The case studies of Co-benefits Mexico are coordinated by the project “Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico” (CONECC) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Cooperation for Sustainable Development) as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) in joint work with the global COBENEFITS project at IASS Potsdam; and are being implemented by ITHACA Environmental and Climate Initiative Mexico ( Iniciativa Climática de México).
Photo: GIZ – Juan Carlos Mendoza. Attendees at the COBENEFITS workshop in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur.
Photo: GIZ – Felipe Borja. Attendees at the COBENEFITS workshop in Merida, Yucatan.
Photo: GIZ – Felipe Borja. Dialogue of regional actors on the Co-benefits of renewable energies and energy efficiency in Merida, Yucatan.
Photo: Climate Initiative Mexico (Iniciativa Climática de México) – Francisco Valdéz. Participants of the CDMX COBENEFITS workshop listen to the presentation by Sandra Guzmán Luna – General Director of Policies for Climate Change (SEMARNAT).
Through its regulatory framework and international commitments, Mexico has vowed to fight climate change by significantly cutting down greenhouse gas emissions across its economy. As in many other countries, the production and use of energy represents a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions, with around 70% of Mexico’s emissions associated with this sector. Faced with a rapidly changing sector and the necessity to design and implement evidence-based mitigation policies, it is crucial for governmental institutions to be equipped with solid data and modelling capacities, which allow them to define more ambitious mitigation measures that adequately consider characteristics of the local context, technologies’ mitigation potential, and possible trade-offs.
In the context of the upcoming revision of Mexico’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), and based on an initiative from the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the GIZ project “Enhancing the coherence of climate and energy policies in Mexico” (CONECC) provided support for the organization of a training course entitled “Scope and potential of LEAP energy-climate modelling environment for the analysis of Nationally Determined Contributions”. The course aimed to build the capacities of governmental decision-makers from the Mexican energy and climate sectors on the use of the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP), a modelling software which can be used to assess the feasibility as well as economic and environmental impacts of various climate mitigation scenarios for the energy sector, taking into account a detailed representation of a country’s demand and supply patterns.
Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP)
Thanks to a mix of presentations and hands-on practice sessions, participants were able to get an in-depth overview of LEAP functionalities, such as building and optimizing scenarios, as well as analyzing and presenting the results to decision-makers. Improving energy efficiency, expanding the use of renewable energy, and electrifying key sectors of the economy, were among the mitigation strategies which were modelled and analyzed using the software. LEAP’s latest version also features an Integrated Benefits Calculator (IBC), which allows quantification of the impacts on health and land-use of the analysed mitigation measures. Finally, participants got a chance to present the modelling work being done within their respective institutions, as well as exchange and learn from each other on the challenges they face and how to address them. The training highlighted the need to strengthen the collaboration between the energy and climate sectors in the process of updating the NDC. In this regard, harmonizing modelling methodologies and assumptions between both sectors appeared as crucial to contribute more effectively to the definition of climate targets.
Looking ahead, the CONECC project will continue building bridges between the energy and climate sectors, to increase the contribution of the former to the fulfilment of Mexico’s NDC. Of particular interest, CONECC is currently supporting SEMARNAT in evaluating the mitigation potential of energy efficiency in Mexico, with the aim of incorporating it into the next update of the NDC.
Group photo
The GIZ project “Enhancing the coherence of climate and energy policies in Mexico” (CONECC) is financed by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through its International Climate Initiative (IKI). For more information, please contact Jonas.russbild@giz.de
Towards a financing mobilization route to achieve national climate change goals
The document was prepared by the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC), with the support of the Climate Initiative Mexico (Iniciativa Climática de Mexico, ICM) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Cooperation for Sustainable Development), and is aimed at demonstrating the main findings on the vision of different representatives of the governmental, financial, private, academic and civil society sectors, regarding Mexico’s need to mobilize climate financing, its main challenges and recommendations on the subject.
Analysis of International and National Public Budget for Climate Change
Its objective is to recognize the financing flows destined to climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in Mexico and to know how prepared the country is, economically speaking, to comply with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). Likewise, the main barriers in this regard are analyzed and recommendations are issued.
The Mexican-German Climate Change Alliance carried out the analysis of the Budget of Expenditures of the Federation (PEF) and the Transversal Annex number 16 (AT16), where Budget Programs, components and responsible units contribute with resources from various Budgeting Branches for climate change mitigation and adaptation. This analysis shows the annual variation of resources flow approved for the Administrative Units (AU) responsible for exercising them, that is, from a functional perspective.
The Ministry of Environment and Territorial Development (SEMADET) of the State of Jalisco and the Sub-directorate of Environment of the Municipality of Puerto Vallarta, supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Cooperation for Sustainable Development) and Menos Dos Grados, carried out the Webinar “Presentation of adaptation and mitigation measures for the Municipal Climate Change Program of Puerto Vallarta” on July 17th, 2019 from 10:00 to 12:00 hours.
Objective of the Webinar:
Presenting adaptation and mitigation measures to climate change that will be part of the Municipal Climate Change Program prior to public consultation.
For more information, see the attachments on this page.
As signatory countries of the Paris Agreement are in the process of revising their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) by 2020, climate experts and civil society organizations are calling for countries to adopt more ambitious mitigation targets. How can countries raise their climate ambition while ensuring that national commitments enshrined in the NDC revisions are consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement? The concept of “carbon budget”, gaining prominence in the global climate agenda, might present some answers to this challenge.
A carbon budget is a determined quantity of GHG emissions which can be emitted globally to ensure that the increase in average Earth’s temperature is maintained within a certain range. The global carbon budget can be distributed across countries and sectors and helps define more ambitious mitigation targets compatible with global objectives.
Credits: GIZ/Dahely Castelán & Felipe Borja
The IKI project “Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico” (CONECC), recently supported the NGO Mexican Climate Initiative (ICM) in estimating a carbon budget for Mexico and its power sector. CONECC aims to build bridges between energy and climate change policy to strengthen the sectorial contribution to the NDC. ICM methodology resulted in a Mexican carbon budget of 22.2 GtCO2e between 2019 and 2100, suggesting that if Mexico keeps emitting at the current pace, it would use the entirety of its carbon budget by 2040. Scaling down this value based on historical sectorial emissions, the study calculated a carbon budget of 1.31 GtCO2e for the electricity sector by 2030, equivalent to a 2030 sectorial emissions limit of 101.03 MtCO2e, a significantly more ambitious target than the 139 MtCO2e stated in the NDC.
Credits: GIZ
To discuss these results and collect feedback from civil society actors, ICM and CONECC organized a workshop in Mexico City on the 16th of May. After a series of presentations on the results of the study, the discussion revolved around the following issues:
Country allocation: should the carbon budget be divided based on each country’s historical emissions, or is there a better way to account for issues of social fairness and burden sharing?
Sectorial distribution: similarly, should sectorial budgets be allocated based on each sector’s historical emissions, or rather consider the significant differences between sectors’ mitigation potential?
Implementation: how to promote the concept of carbon budget to Mexican decision makers and integrate it into the revision of the NDC and the existing regulatory framework? building technical capacities within the sector, changing the perception of an economic development reliant on fossil fuels, and promoting the “co-benefits” arising from a carbon budget methodology, were all identified as key success factors.
Credits: GIZ/Dahely Castelán & Felipe Borja
Next steps will include refining the methodology, conducting a cost-effectiveness analysis of a variety of measures, and formulating recommendations for carbon budgets implementation. This will involve evaluating a budget for various other sectors of the economy and defining cost-effective mitigation scenarios compatible with the proposed targets. CONECC will continue supporting ICM in the effort of promoting the concept of carbon budget with a focus on the power sector, providing policy makers with convincing arguments for an increasingly ambitious climate policy.
How to improve the capacities for the preparation and evaluation of projects in Mexico?
Given the concern of municipalities to improve capacities in the formulation, evaluation and financial structuring of infrastructure projects in Mexico, the global FELICITY program carried out a capacity building strategy to: identify potential institutions and formalize their linkage; develop a detailed agenda for the training and technical assistance offer; link municipalities and incorporate a tool to improve the management of the formulation process, ex-ante evaluation as well as project funding.
Credits: Shutterstock. Project management and evaluation
As part of the results, to optimize support for project promoters, three key institutions to achieve collaboration were found: 1) National Bank of Public Works and Services (BANOBRAS), 2) Center of Studies for the Preparation and Socio-Economic Evaluation of Projects (CEPEP), and 3) Program to Promote Public-Private Partnerships (PIAPPEM).
BANOBRAS is a financial entity of the Federal Government with the mandate of promoting and financing federal, state and municipal infrastructure, as well as promoting and supporting private participation in its financing.
CEPEP is a trust of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), with the mission to support the SHCP in technical assistance, design, training and socio-economic evaluation of public investment projects.
PIAPPEM is the program for the promotion of Public-Private Partnerships in Mexico, which is led and sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Based on the challenges and barriers of subnational local governments to achieve investment-grade projects preparation, a Requirements Map was prepared for the formulation and ex-ante evaluation of investment-grade projects that could be addressed via training and to which FELICITY can contribute , for any project that is part of the Financing for low carbon energy investment in cities.
Click on the images to download the publications:
Credits: Global FELICITY Program Development, 2019. Capacity building strategy.
Credits: Global FELICITY Program Development, 2019. Calendar of Available Training.
Credits: Global FELICITY Program Development, 2019. Requirements Map for the formulation and evaluation of projects.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Mexican Banking Association (ABM) have established a Climate Risk Capacity Building Program aimed at strengthening the institutional and operational capacity of Mexican banks to identify and manage climate, environmental and social risks. Within this program a new stage started with the objective to analyse the gaps in governance systems and in the management of climate, environmental and social risks in Mexican banks in relation to the TCFD recommendations.
The specific objectives of the project are to:
Provide knowledge about the main international trends and practical examples of banks that are aligning with these regulatory and/or voluntary trends.
Identify, through an international benchmarking exercise, best practices in governance within banks in Latin America and the Caribbean that are sustainable finance leaders in their context of operation and/or “early adopters” of the TCFD’s recommendations.
Develop a tool for the identification and analysis of EC&S governance structures and practices for the management of climate, environmental and social risks within banks in Mexico. The tool will allow the self-evaluation by banks of their performance regarding the implementation of TCFD’s recommendations for governance and climate risk management, as well as comparison with peers. Easy to use and accessible to all interested banks, the results of its application will allow the analysis of existing gaps, the identification of short and medium-term objectives and the visualisation of progress made in the implementation of TCFD’s recommendations.
Use the tool to evaluate the performance of a sample of 3-5 Mexican banks in terms of governance and practices for the management of climate, environmental and social risks.
Facilitate a training workshop with member banks of ABM and other interested banks where the tool and its possible applications will be presented, along with anonymous results of its application to those involved. A series of group exercises will be organised to analyse the main gaps and discuss possible barriers and enablers for climate risk management in Mexican banks. The workshop will also enable the elaboration of “road maps” for TCFD implementation through the identification of objectives, activities and timelines with respect to each criterion.
As part of this initiative, Acclimatise representative, Laura Canevari, was invited to present at a workshop organized during the XIV Symposium on Risk Management, held at the Hilton Reforma in Mexico City on the 29th of May. Here, she introduced the recent outputs from the UNEP-FI First pilot project with the banking sector on TCFD Implementation, and reflected on climate risks and opportunities best disclosure practices from around the world.
During the workshop, representatives from different financial institutions within the country engaged in dialogue to explore examples of governance and risk management systems for socio-environmental and climatic risks, and to learn about practical cases, tools and international reference frameworks that can help them pave the way to TCFD aligned disclosures.
Photo: Acclimatise News.
Opening remarks from Rafael del Villar Alrich, Governance advisor of the Bank of Mexico (one of 36 financial institutions in the Network for Greening the Financial System Initiative) were complemented by presentations from ABM, Banobras, Bancolombia Banamext as well as CEBDS Brasil and GIZ. As noted by Alan Gómez Hernández, Sustainability committee Coordinator from ABM, , climate change needs to be regarded as a fundamental issue impacting the private sector: A business topic with potentially significant positive and negative repercussions.
As noted by Virna Gutierrez (Banobras), these issues need to be recognised and tackled at high levels of governance within banks, with the support of risk management systems that can support the identification and evaluation of policies to mitigate potential risks and pursue potential opportunities. Steps are being taken to make this possible. In South America, for example, Bancolombia has recognised the role it has to play in financing the transition to a low carbon economy, with a well-established climate policy to inform their strategy. They are also active players in government conversations and have a very cohesive internal group within the bank that works to advance sustainability and climate risk management issues and engages directly with potential clients to foster the development of their green bonds and credit lines. These activities are all reported to the board of directors, which has established a target of US$10bn in climate investments by 2030.
The Mexican banks are also taking steps forward. Banamext SARAS (Sistema de Gestión de Riesgos Ambientales y Sociales) system, for example, establishes a comprehensive management framework that includes policies, procedures, tools and internal dissemination actions as well as training needs in order to identify, supervise and manage the exposure that the bank may have against potential environmental and social impacts within the credit allocation process. Similarly, they have also developed a self-assessment tool (MEDIRSE): A methodology to determine the impact of risks relating to social aspects of energy investments, in accordance with Bancomex’s due diligence process and SARAS system.
In addition, innovative collaborations are fostering the development of instruments that help Mexican banks better incorporate social, environmental and climate risks in their governance structures and that facilitate the alignment with the TCFD Recommendations. Such is the case of an initiative established by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit’s (GIZ’s) Emerging Markets Dialogue on Finance (EMDF) Initiative (see also: Embedding environmental scenario analysis), with the support of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s (CISL’s) Centre for Sustainable Finance, the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and Banco de México. The project aims to empower financial institutions across the banking, insurance and asset management sectors and to promote the integration of environmental scenario analysis into practice in financial decision making.
Whilst Mexican banks acknowledged the challenges of incorporating social, environmental and climate risks and opportunities within their governance and risk management systems, it remained clear that banks should embark on this process now (if they have not already). The process and outputs generated through the newly established Inter-American Development Bank project working with the Mexican Banking Association are designed to provide the required support.
This article belongs to Acclimatise. Its content is the sole responsibility of the autor.
Mexico has committed to ambitious climate change mitigation goals, for which the contribution of the energy sector is essential.
This study presents the result of the evaluation of the convergence between Mexico’s climate change mitigation policies and energy policy at the national and subnational levels. The study, developed by the project “Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico” (CONECC) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Cooperation for Sustainable Development), analyzes whether climate change and sustainable energy policies considered in Mexico are aligned and enable the energy sector to reach its objectives in addition to fulfilling the climate goals that Mexico has assumed in its legislation and internationally.
The analysis considers the benefits which the convergence of policies (instruments, processes and governance structures) presents for the climate and energy sector, and identifies opportunities to move towards mainstreaming. The study also analyzes the public policies of both agendas, focusing on high energy consumption sectors: electricity, oil and gas, transportation, buildings, and industry.
The study results in more than forty recommendations that allow delineating action towards inter-institutional convergence. These include the need for strengthening institutional capacities, greater inter-institutional coordination based on instruments and processes, promotion of sub-national planning, attribution analysis, identification of mainstream responsibilities and dialogue between sector heads.
CONECC. Cover of the publication.
Before the climate challenge that cities around the world are facing, the goal of the Government of Mexico City (GCDMX) is the reduction of 22 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
With the project of Sustainable Energy Transition in Public Buildings in Mexico City that participates in the FELICITY Global Program “Financing Low Carbon Infrastructure in Cities”, it seeks to promote the energy transition in public buildings of the GCDMX with efficient energy equipment and with sustainable energy management systems.
Photo: Time Out, Iván Macías. Mexico City, Mexico
FELICITY provides technical assistance to the Ministry of Environment (SEDEMA) in the process of gathering information to contribute to a replication of good practices in local, regional and global cooperation networks, in addition to providing external consultants to make a global assessment of buildings, and the project so that it is financially sustainable.
Within the framework of FELICITY technical assistance, SEDEMA convened an Integration Forum on June 20th, which aimed to promote the project with key stakeholders within the government, as well as the digital tools available to manage energy efficiency on each of the candidate buildings. The meeting was attended by 50 representatives from 9 departments of the GCDMX administration as well as 10 mayorships.
Photo: Frida Lira, FELICITY GIZ. Naschelli Ayala, Deputy Director of Climate Change, SEDEMA, welcoming the Forum Integration of Buildings to the Transition to Sustainable Public Buildings project in Mexico City
Among the main conclusions of the Forum are: the energy transition for different government agencies would help reduce millionaire expenses in electricity; supply of hot water for longer periods in the case of hospitals; obtaining sources of financing; as well as the selection criteria of buildings.
That is why the GCDMX, through SEDEMA, promotes the execution of urban infrastructure projects with low carbon emissions, in order to achieve a sustainability development within the city.
Photo: Frida Lira, FELICITY GIZ. Representatives of the dependencies and mayorships of the GCDMX
FELICITY is the initiative implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Cooperation for Sustainable Development); with the support of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) that provides technical assistance in the preparation of projects focused on low carbon infrastructure in cities.
Photo: Climate Initiative Mexico (Iniciativa Climática de México) – Francisco Valdéz. Attendees at the CDMX Cobenefits workshop.
