Mexican Delegation Eighteen officials from key ministries work with ELI lawyers on improving response to climate change

• Pages: 57-57

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 ❧ Page 57

Copyright © 2010, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, Nov./Dec. 2010

ELI Report

Mexico has emerged

as a climate policy leader

among developing coun-

tries through economic

and public policy analy-

sis and information tools,

though it has yet to enact

a national climate change

law. In order to scale up

mitigation and adapta-

tion projects and imple-

ment broader low-carbon

development policies, it

will be necessary to ad-

dress the regulatory and

legal regime. Mexican

policymakers are work-

ing to f‌ill this gap and in

August, ELI helped to

advance this process.

Eighteen delegates

from key Mexican min-

istries — including con-

gressional staf‌f currently

drafting Mexican climate

bills — worked with ELI

staf‌f and other climate

change experts to hone

their understanding of

climate change topics

and to develop policy

and legal approaches.

e delegation included

attorneys from the Sec-

retariat of Environment

and Natural Resources,

the Ministry of Energy,

the Ministry of Foreign

Af‌fairs, the Of‌f‌ice of the

President, and advisors to

Senator Alberto Cárdenas

Jiménez.

e training course

was intended to provide

the delegates a compre-

hensive foundation from

which to build climate

policy initiatives. Indeed,

the delegation heard from

a wide variety of experts.

In total, 32 speakers,

from the government,

corporate, and non-prof‌it

sectors took part. Four-

teen panels informed the

delegates on the threats of

climate change, while also

providing an overview of

the legislative, regulatory,

and judicial tools that

have been — or could

be — used to respond to

these threats.

Topics included the

economics of climate

change policy; reporting

emissions and liabilities;

international climate

change negotiations;

comparative approaches

to climate by Brazil, Brit-

ain, China, the European

Union, and India; basic

science of climate change;

U.S. climate change law

and policy; U.S. state-

level action; Maryland’s

climate adaptation ap-

proach; greenhouse gas

emissions in Mexico;

energy ef‌f‌iciency, best

practices for adaptation

to climate change; of‌fsets

and reducing emissions

from deforestation and

degradation; environ-

mental justice; and U.S.

climate litigation.

e delegation was also

able to see f‌irsthand how

some of these tools have

been put into practice.

e group traveled to

Annapolis to learn about

Maryland’s progressive

climate adaptation and

mitigation policies. e

visit included the oppor-

tunity to participate in a

meeting with Governor

Martin O’Malley’s staf‌f,

where Maryland’s progress

in meeting energy ef‌f‌icien-

cy and renewable energy

goals was discussed.

A great deal of infor-

mation and ideas were

exchanged during the

course of the week. Each

participant developed a

white paper on a specif‌ic

policy topic in collabora-

tion with ELI. An advi-

sor to Senator Jiménez

remarked, “In light of

what I have learned at the

workshop, I plan to sug-

gest some changes to the

language of the climate

change bill.”

At the end of the

week, an ELI Associates

Seminar, Strengthening

Mexico’s Legal Frame-

work to Address Climate

Change, gave our mem-

bers and the public the

opportunity to learn from

these Mexican of‌f‌icials the

details of each agency’s

ef‌forts to respond to cli-

mate change. Almost 20

members of the public

from institutions includ-

ing the Center for Clean

Air Policy, U.S. Depart-

ment of the Interior,

Environmental Defense

Fund, and Defenders of

Wildlife attended the

event.

Presenting current cli-

mate change institutional

agendas gave the Mexican

of‌f‌icials the chance to

think through opportu-

nities for legislative or

policy changes to advance

developing climate objec-

tives in light of the topics

they had learned about

during the course. is

public conversation gave

participants the chance

to discuss ideas with at-

tendees.

Eighteen ofcials from Mexican ministries attended training course.

John Pendergrass, director of

ELI’s judicial education program.

Mexican Delegation Eighteen officials from key ministries work

with ELI lawyers on improving response to climate change