When it comes to climate protection, Mexico is currently the trailblazer in Latin America: the country has launched a comprehensive climate policy within the framework of an emissions trading system (ETS) to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement.
The EUI's School of Transnational Governance (STG) aims to support Mexico’s endeavour through its ‘Executive Dialogues on International Carbon Markets’. The executive training series is conducted in close cooperation with the World Bank's Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) and seeks to share the European experiences with carbon pricing and trading systems with non-European G20 countries.
The initiative is led by Professor Jos Delbeke, the EUI's first European Investment Bank Chair on Climate Change Policy and International Carbon Markets ('EIB Climate Chair'). As the former Director General of the European Commission's DG Climate Action from its cration in 2010 until 2018, Delbeke is considered the "architect" of the EU’s emissions trading system.
Against this background, the Executive Dialogues with the Mexican Environment Ministry served as a platform for mutual exchange of learning and expertise. A total of four online workshop took place between 2 March and 21 April with the first three workshops targeting Mexican experts from the public and private sector, as well as academia and civil society, while the last webinar was also open to the public.
Topics covered included the different aspects of international carbon markets, from their implementation to their functioning, especially in relation to the allocation of carbon credits, the competitiveness of regulated companies as well as offsets, including the role of protected areas and the feasibility of blue carbon projects.
In his concluding remarks Prof. Delbeke highlighted that: "Bringing experts together from the EU and from Mexico provided a useful opportunity to compare notes – especially now that Mexico has started to roll-out its pilot carbon market. Both parties have an interest in building a robust system that addresses greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective manner.”
The training series was carried out in cooperation with the General Directorate of Policies for Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the Delegation of the European Union in Mexico and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The Mexican and European teams aim to continue the dialogue, focusing on concrete areas of cooperation and establishing relevant linkages with other aspects of the strategic partnership between Mexico and the European Union.
About the Executive Dialogues on International Carbon Markets.
The initiative’s core activities are workshops and webinars with key representatives of government, industry, academia and civil society/NGOs. Phase One of the project (2020) focused on South Africa and India while Phase Two (2021) expands the programme to Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia.
The team works closely with local partners and stakeholders to craft a programme tailored to the specific context of each country.