Climate change is a reality. This is why there are so many important international efforts and commitments to adopt mitigation measures to limit the rise in the planet’s global temperature and its impacts. These commitments are reflected in legal instruments such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. However, even though Mexico has been part of all these agreements, the gap between the goal and the actions that have already been undertaken is still very wide.
A large share of the global greenhouse gas emissions come from the world’s urban and metropolitan centers. Also, Mexico is the 10th largest emitter worldwide [1], with the primary sources of emissions in Mexico by sector being transportation, electricity generation, agriculture and industry [2].
It is well-known at national and international levels that national governments alone cannot close the action gap. Because urban centers and their related demands are the main emitters of greenhouse gas gases, there is an urgent need to actively involve local and sub-national governments, businesses, universities and the civil society, collectively known as non-Party stakeholders, to address this challenge.
Recognizing this context and the early efforts to address climate change within the city, stakeholder representatives from the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area (GMA), with the support of WWF [3], have established the Alianza para la Acción Climática de Guadalajara.
Through this partnership, we seek to implement immediate and concrete actions that can generate significant climate adaptation and mitigation benefits in our area. To this end, we have identified the first working group comprised of the sub-national and local governments, businesses, academia and civil society. We recognize the need to work hard and continue to engage more actors to join this local effort for global impact.
The members of the Alianza para la Acción Climática de Guadalajara want to demonstrate a real commitment to climate action by working hand in hand with all sectors to build initiatives that contribute to accelerating the fulfillment, and enhancing the ambition, of Mexico’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.
Through this alliance, we are committed to undertaking climate actions at all levels, beginning within our own institutions, companies, or scopes of work, and moving on to the development of collective projects among alliance members of larger scale and impact in the GMA. We are also committed to identifying, together with the national government, enabling conditions that can facilitate additional actions by sub-national and non-state stakeholders, as well as to jointly explore opportunities for increasing the ambition of our NDC based on the opportunities that we see in Guadalajara and elsewhere in the country.
The Alianza para la Acción Climática de Guadalajara aims to be a non-partisan and inclusive initiative that builds local social power based on the unity, trust, cooperation and commitment of its members. Our mid-term vision is that the Alianza para la Acción Climática de Guadalajara becomes a powerful example of collective climate action that is replicated in other cities of the country. That is why we hereby invite other stakeholders in the GMA and other cities in Mexico to join in this effort.
We are convinced that, to achieve a low-carbon development, we must focus our efforts on improving energy efficiency, expanding renewable energy, handling solid waste properly, promoting sustainable urban mobility, sustainable production and responsible and moderate consumption, as well as creating highly resilient societies.
The Alianza para la Acción Climática de Guadalajara will seek to catalyze efforts of each of its members, by systematizing the measurement of our impacts and the reporting of our actions, in coordination and in line with the state government and the federal government.
We are convinced that, if we work together, the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara could become a national point of reference for how to overcome the crisis of climate change. As we mobilize our efforts and local actions, we will actively contribute to the Paris Agreement’s goal of maintaining an average temperature increase below 1.5 °C, so that together we can begin to close the current gap between ambition and the implementation of global agreements.
[1] Source: WRI CAIT (2017).
[2] National GHG Emissions Inventory by INECC (2015).
[3] As part of Alliances for Climate Action.