In its National Determined Contribution (NDC) for the Paris Agreement, Mexico pledged to increase its 25% unconditional greenhouse gas (GHG) and Short-Lived Climate Pollutants reduction goal up to 40% with the condition of having a global agreement that addresses “international carbon price, carbon border adjustments, technical cooperation, access to low-cost financial resources and technology transfer”. Considering this statement, Mexico can be seen mainly as a recipient of climate funds ̶ although it can also act as a donor in some cases. It was considered the second biggest recipient of climate finance at a global level by 2015, since it received $109,311,076,566 Mexican pesos from 2006-2014, and 5 billion US dollars from 2015 to 2017, to fund climate projects in the country.

According to Transparencia Mexicana (Mexican Transparency), a social organization that aims to control corruption in Mexico, our principal donors are the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) which covers 39.45% of the contributions, the World Bank with 28.7%, and the French Development Agency (AFD) with 19.93%. It is important to consider that most of those funds (93%) are given as credit or loans to the Mexican Government.

In 2014, CEMDA or Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (Mexican Center of Environmental Law) identified the main sectors that got funding from international sources, which were energy efficiency (31%), renewable energy (20%) and forestry (12%). For the 2015-2017 period, Transparencia Mexicana identified the same sectors, however, the proportions have changed, with forestry receiving most of the funds (23%), renewable energy 22% and energy efficiency 13%.

The National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) has calculated that, in order to completely implement mitigation measures from 2014 to 2030, Mexico would need to have an investment of almost 68 billion US dollars. However, there’s no clear distinction between what should come from private, public or international funds, an issue that is exacerbated by the lack of transparency mechanisms and accountability from current financial flows that several authors have identified.

As with many other subjects regarding the Paris Agreement, Mexico seems to have built a strong base to obtain international funds from multilateral sources, even going back to the establishment of the Green Climate Fund. However, as with other aspects of its commitment, the vagueness and lack of a clear systems to monitor, verify and account for those funds make it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of current climate finance in our country, as well as the details of how these resources are being used in which projects.

You can help us get a more detailed idea of how international resources are used in this country by contacting Mr. Juan Carlos Gonzalo Conseco Gómez, Chief of the International Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Finance, with the following message:

Dear Mr. Juan Carlos Gonzalo Conseco Gómez, it has been brought to our attention that, although Mexico has made a very good job securing international resources to fund climate change projects, it is still very difficult to discern how much has been used for which projects, and if it has been sufficient to reach our commitments to the Paris Agreement. We encourage you to work with the upcoming government in order to create a more transparent and accountable system so we can make better evaluations and plans for the future.

Contact:
Mr. Juan Carlos Gonzalo Conseco Gómez, Chief of the International Affairs Unit, Ministry of Finance
Web: https://www.greenclimate.fund/countries/-/country-profiles/mexico#
Telephone: +52 55 3688 1228
Address: Insurgentes Sur 1971, Torre 3, Piso 3 Mexico City, C.P. 01020, Mexico 
 Mexico City, 01020 Mexico