In Mexico, a study was developed to analyze the current governance of climate finance and, from there, propose a multi-stakeholder coordination mechanism that supports the creation of strategies to adequately direct available financial resources towards climate mitigation and adaptation actions.
The main objective of the multi-actor coordination mechanism on climate financing is to take advantage of existing institutional structures to increase the financing of projects and programs that focus on reducing emission pollutants and enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities. The proposal includes two primary actions.
The first action involves improving the operational effectiveness of the Financing Working Group (GT-FIN) of the Intersecretarial Commission on Climate Change (CICC). Due to the lack of clarity regarding this group’s activities and with the goal of improving multi-actor coordination, the following suggestions regarding the GT-FIN’s structure and activities were given: This working group should be composed of representatives from the 13 Secretariats of the CICC, the National Council on Science and Technology (CONACYT), the Climate Change Fund, the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), the Bank of Mexico, the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). Regarding its main activities, it is recommended that the GT-FIN develop a Climate Financing Route, a guiding document whose objective will be to improve the access, allocation, management and mobilization of financing from public and private sources within and outside Mexico that carry out actions in support of the climate, the environment, and society.
The second part of the proposal aims to create a Special Committee on Climate Financing, whose objective will be to provide technical support in the design and development of the Climate Financing Route. Specifically, the Committee should take steps to improve the governance of financing by involving strategic actors and facilitating the identification of and access to resources. The Committee members should also help in defining methodologies, building technical capacity, offering recommendations on economic and financial instruments, and building knowledge to improve decision making and existing instruments such as the Climate Change Fund.
This proposal was based on an analysis of existing coordination mechanisms at the international level—for example, the Standing Committee on Finance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance of the European Union. At the national level, the legal and institutional framework associated with climate financing was examined. This included the identification of climate efforts made as a result of the General Law on Climate Change, as well as the bodies involved in the law. Also analyzed were the climate actions undertaken by other financial institutions, such as the Bank of Mexico, the Development Bank, the Private Bank, the Mexico Bankers Association, the Mexican Stock Exchange and the Green Finance Advisory Board.
The study was prepared by the Climate Finance Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC), an organization that seeks to strengthen access to climate finance in the region, with support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It forms part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
Gabriela Niño is a technical advisor in the Mexican-German Climate Change Alliance of GIZ, and Gabriela Rodríguez Martínez is the project coordinator for GFLAC.