Promoting climate action at a subnational level is key to mitigating climate change, complying with the Paris Agreement and national goals in the area. Establishing a Carbon Budget is an innovative way of promoting the fulfillment of these objectives: the concept refers to the amount of maximum emissions available to keep the temperature increase within a certain range. This estimate is based on the best available science, and allows more ambitious mitigation goals to be set in alignment with desirable climate futures.

This is why, on October 27, the signing event was held between the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, through the project “Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico”(CONECC), the Government of Jalisco and the Government of Yucatán for the estimation of Carbon Budgets and the development of decarbonization routes in the electricity sector.

The event was attended by the Resident Director of GIZ Mexico, Marita Brömmelmeier; the director of the CONECC project, Jonas Russbild; Ernesto Herrera Novelo, Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Labor (SEFOET); Secretary Sayda Melina Rodríguez Gómez from the Sustainable Development Secretariat (SDS) on behalf of Yucatan; Secretary Sergio Humberto Graf Montero from the Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Development (SEMADET) and Secretary Ernesto Sánchez Proal from the Ministry of Economic Development (SEDECO) in Jalisco.

The signing of the Agreements marks the beginning of a collaboration to define mitigation goals with greater ambition, with a social and territorial focus. Marita Brömmelmeier commented that: “The commitments that were signed will serve as an example to inspire similar initiatives in favor of greater efforts for the convergence of energy and climate.”

As a next step, the states of Yucatan and Jalisco will receive technical support for the estimation of the Carbon Budget of their electricity sectors, in collaboration with the Climate Initiative of Mexico. The project will seek to identify local measures and actions focused on aligning energy and climate change policies in the states, ensuring the replicability of the exercise, and promoting the adoption of this methodology in Mexico.

The Carbon Budgets project will run from October 2020 to August 2021, and seeks to strengthen the capacity of sub-national actors in the design of energy policies that decisively contribute to the achievement of Mexico’s climate goals.

For more information, contact CONECC’s email, conecc@giz.de or Felipe Borja in his email Felipe.borja@giz.de.