In Mexico, twenty-four new cities have expressed interest in joining the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) Americas, highlighting their voluntary commitment to fighting climate change and the importance of networking to implement concrete solutions.
The announcement was made on March 17 during the XXIV National Assembly of the Mexican Association of Local Authorities (AALMAC), where Mexico’s National Strategy on climate change was presented. The presentation was led by Luis Carlos Lara Damken, president of the Mexican Association of Municipal Planning Institutes (AMIMP), the organization currently serving as the National Coordination and Presidency of the National Advisory Committee (CCN, in Spanish).
The event brought together 350 Mexican municipalities members of AALMAC, including Mexico City, represented by Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, and the mayor of Ahome, Gerardo Octavio Vargas Landeros. In his message as the newly elected National President of AALMAC and member of the GCoM Mayors’ Forum of Latin America, Landeros reaffirmed his commitment to take firm steps toward Mexico’s future well-being during his tenure, committed to environmental care through the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy in Latin America.
The growing interest of cities in joining the Global Covenant of Mayors clearly demonstrates the leadership that local governments wish to assume in the fight against climate change and their commitment to implementing concrete solutions. Additionally, it is a reflection of what Silvia Rivas, representative of the European Union’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), pointed out about the awareness that local governments have regarding their role in the fight against climate change as a means for the well-being of their citizens: ‘Mexico is a special case due to its capacity and openness to rethinking the actions being carried out in relation to climate action.’
In Mexico, the development of climate action plans and their monitoring with the financial support and technical training of local governments through the alliance is evidence of the success and steady progress of the National Strategy of the GCoM, which aims to strengthen governance mechanisms as a key element in the fight against climate change.
Joining the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy is an opportunity for local governments, together with the inhabitants of their cities, to act collectively to reduce and minimize the impacts of climate change. We are eager to collaborate and build a better, more inclusive, and democratic future through joint climate action with the twenty-four municipalities that have registered to join the GCoM: Playas de Rosarito, El Carmen Tequexquitla, Almoloya del Río, Santa Clara, San Luis de Cordero, Actopan, Champotón, Coahuayana, Heroica Ciudad de Tlaxiaco, La Paz, Tláhuac, El Salto Jalisco, San Marcos, Tepic, Ensenada, San Salvador, Mineral de la Reforma, Totolap, Juchitepec, Melchor Ocampo, Tizayuca, Almoloya de Juárez, Tlaxco, and Ixtacuixtla de Mariano Matamoros.
