Mexico’s international climate leadership and collaboration is more critical than ever

The stark realities of the environmental policy challenges we are likely to face, in the United States and internationally, have not faded in the month since the U.S. election.

During his campaign, I and many others were deeply troubled by the statements President-elect Trump made about Latinos, African-Americans, women, people with disabilities, immigrants and other religious groups, as well as our critical relationship with Mexico. He called climate change a “hoax”; vowed to “cancel” the Paris climate agreement; and pledged to undo the Clean Power Plan, the regulation that would put the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants in the United States. Just last week, he selected a climate denier, and sworn opponent of bedrock protections for clean air and clean water, as his pick to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

 

But in the days following the election, I have been heartened by messages of empathy and solidarity from my friends and colleagues from around the world. These messages remind me that as a community we have strength – and that we can and will keep pushing forward, together. Our resolve is greater than ever, and there are many reasons for hope.

First, no one country can solve climate change alone – and thus no one election, in any country, can put the solution out of reach. A single president cannot reverse the hard-won progress of the world’s countries, who came together in 2015 to craft the historic Paris climate agreement, and met again last month in Marrakesh to continue putting that plan into action.

Mexico has taken on global leadership on the issue of climate change – pledging ambitious reductions to its national emissions, and forging collaborations in North America with the state of California, and the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, among other international partnerships. Mexico’s leadership and international collaboration now play an even more critical and influential role in the global effort on climate change, and particularly in North America. And Mexico will not be alone in moving forward to develop a low carbon economy – emissions giants including China have pledged they will continue to move forward with their plans to reduce emissions, and use market-based mechanisms to get there.

Second, the transformation underway toward clean energy and low-carbon economies is unstoppable. In 2014, the U.S. clean energy market, which includes wind turbines, solar panels, home energy storage and energy efficiency, grew by 14 percent – at nearly five times the rate of the overall economy – to nearly $200 billion. And hundreds of major businesses just called on the new Administration to meet US carbon pollution reduction targets, invest in clean energy, and implement the Paris climate pact.

Even beyond the Paris Agreement, the world is beginning to shift. The reform and modernization of Mexico’s power sector, as one example, has the potential to transform its economic and energy future in way that is both more profitable and more sustainable.

California has been leading the way on climate change and energy innovation in the United States – and working in active partnership with Mexico on climate change since 2014. California’s also forged a collaboration among more than 130 subnational governments representing more than half of the world’s GDP through the Under 2 MOU.

And let us not overlook that two-thirds of Americans want reducing carbon pollution to be a priority and over 80% of Americans support boosting clean energy sources such as wind and solar.

Our work in Mexico has all the key ingredients we need to succeed. Our partners in Mexico, from government to civil society, are committed – as are we – to working in partnership to put our collective knowledge, expertise, creativity, and will to the task of fighting climate change – together.

I know that I will, and my organization will, continue to face and fight the battles ahead for protecting our health, the climate, and clean air, healthy ecosystems, and clean water – and there will, no doubt, be many.

I am extremely proud of my work and I am fortunate to come to work every day and be a part of the global effort to solve one of the most formidable environmental challenges of our time, and to work in partnership with dedicated leaders and committed citizens of Mexico.

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