MEXICO CITY – METROPOLIS ADAPTS REALISTIC GOALS Once considered one of the world’s most polluted cities, Mexico City’s ambitious but realistic climate adaptation goals and actions enabled the city to bring home the title Global Winner of WWF’s One Planet City Challenge in 2020. Challenges of growth are inevitable in a metropolis of this A WATER PARK - LITERALLY size. The city is surrounded by mountains and is a large valley Once a capital of the Aztec empire called Tenochtitlán, the area located on the high altitude site once covered by the waters of now occupied by Mexico City has been inhabited for centuries. Lake Texcoco. It’s geography historically has made it subject After the 16th century Spanish conquest, Mexico City became to flooding and wastewater management issues as well as the capital of New Spain. Now it is the most populous city freshwater supply challenges. in North America with over 22 million people* in its greater Yet adaptation to change has always been a hallmark of Mexico metropolitan area. Mexico City stretches across 1,485 square City. The city developed a climate change plan aligned with the kilometers and has the globe’s 15th largest GDP. Paris Agreement and the goal of keeping temperature rise to © Secretaría del Medio Ambiente de la Ciudad de México (SEDEMA) Divanov WWF URBAN SOLUTIONS 2021 MEXICO CITY – METROPOLIS ADAPTS REALISTIC GOALS below 1.5°C. By 2050 Mexico City expects to decarbonize, with an interim goal by 2025 of reducing carbon emissions by 31.4 RAINING OPPORTUNITIES million tonnes.[1] To fulfill citizen needs, over time Mexico City has overtaxed The climate plan includes seven strategic areas: society aquifers, leading to areas of and population, ecosystems, energy, as well as emissions, the city sinking as much as 30 productive systems, the private sector, and mobility. centimeters annually, while up In 2018, Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador to 30% of residents lack access cancelled plans for a giant international airport project and to sufficient water supplies. instead embarked upon building one of the world’s largest eco- The city’s abundant, six-month Ambiente © Secretaría del Medio de la Ciudad de México (SEDEMA) parks, the Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco. Parque Ecológico rainy season was a natural plus will be situated where the original lake system that fed the city’s for planning a sustainable water supply, and via the Cosecha early water needs is located. de lluvia (Rainwater harvest) program the city is installing rooftop water collection and purifying systems. In 2021 over The goal with the Parque Ecológico is to rejuvenate drained 500 neighborhoods will be eligible for the program of either lakes and restore swaths of Texcoco’s wetlands while creating free or subsidized collection systems - over 20,000 homes have recreational spaces, an urban forest, and green infrastructure benefitted in the program’s two-year history.[3]Leak repair and in one of the city’s last undeveloped areas. Over 10 miles wide grey-water usage are additional strategies the city is pursuing. and covering 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares), the park grounds will include an urban forest to capture carbon and mitigate air pollution. CHALLENGES PERSIST Also to mitigate emissions, Mexico City has developed an An increase in temperatures brings risk of lowered rainfall extensive public transport system including the use of electric and greater water scarcity to the greater Mexico City region. buses and a network of bike lanes. Regulation of diesel engines In addition, the city faces a large stumbling block due to and a new system to improve efficiency of street lighting, wells, the country’s state-owned oil and electricity companies, a and pumping plants will also help reduce carbon emissions. dependence on fossil fuels, and unwillingness by current leadership to hasten the shift to renewable energy sources. In addition, Mexico City has pushed forward initiatives such as a ban of single-use plastic that went into effect in January 2021, which will help reduce the seven million tons of plastic the city accumulates annually.[2] MEXICO CITY ACHIEVEMENTS: • Plans for Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco and creation of an urban forest • Cosecha de Lluvia for rainwater harvesting installed in 20,000 homes • The city took delivery of its first 10 electric buses in 2020 • Mexico City banned single-use plastics in 2021 • The Danish-Mexican Energy and Climate Partnership Program prompted Mexican companies toward energy efficiency investments.** * in the greater metropolitan area. Source: https:// worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/mexico- city-population ** https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/ Danish-approach-inspires-Mexican-industry-giants- to-enroll-in-energy-efficiency-program--32629726/ [1] Compared to 2012 emissions. http://www. data.sedema.cdmx.gob.mx/cambioclimaticocdmx/ climatechange/vision_cdmx_cambio_climatico. html#:~:text=To%20reduce%20the%20effects%20 of,climate%20change%2C%20in%20order%20to [2] https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Progress- Watch/2021/0211/Points-of-Progress-Mexico-City- cuts-out-plastic-and-more [3] https://www.milenio.com/politica/comunidad/ © Secretaría del Medio Ambiente de la Ciudad de México (SEDEMA) cdmx-cosecha-lluvia-2021-aplicara-529-colonias WWF URBAN SOLUTIONS 2021.