Experts Call for Science-Based Action to Face Climate Risks

Experts warn that as global temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, integrated strategies with a global vision are urgently needed to mitigate the effects of this phenomenon, which also encompasses a social and economic crisis.

During the 15th National Congress on Climate Change Research and the 7th Latin American Congress on the same topic, Rosaura Ruiz, Minister of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation, UNAM, emphasized that the increase in global warming has intensified extreme weather events, heatwaves, droughts, and forest fires, particularly affecting rural and coastal regions.

Ruiz recalled that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have revealed that the planet’s average temperature has increased by approximately 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels. The year 2024 was the warmest on record, with an average thermal anomaly of 1.55°C, continuing a rising trend observed over the past two decades. In Mexico’s case, various studies estimate a temperature increase above the global average.

José Luis Samaniego, Deputy Minister of Sustainable Development and Circular Economy at SEMARNAT, highlighted that Mexico is warming at a rate of 3.2°C per century, compared with the global rate of 2°C per century. This means the country has less time to adapt to changes. He also warned that the impacts are not uniform. For example, sea level rise along Mexico’s coasts is more pronounced in the Pacific than in other regions.

According to data from the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), the economic costs associated with disasters caused by climate change exceed MX$100 billion (US$5.4 billion) annually, and more than 70% of Mexico’s population lives in areas vulnerable to these impacts. “These data confirm that the climate crisis is also a social and economic crisis that demands responses based on science, cooperation, and environmental justice,” Ruiz said.

Samaniego added that data from the UNAM Climate Change Research Program (PINCC) indicate that the accumulated costs of inaction on climate change throughout this century could amount to a loss of between 2% and 9% of Mexico’s 2024 GDP. He underscored the need to be better prepared to confront global warming, as extreme events are expected to become more intense, severe, and potentially more frequent.

In this regard, he highlighted the work of more than 30 collaborators from the PINCC, led by Francisco Estrada, noting that their data are key to supporting science-based public policies for adaptation. Estrada, who coordinates the PINCC, explained that over the past four years, the team has developed DataPINCC, a digital platform for visualizing and sharing academic modeling data. The portal includes projections on climate, IPCC models, social and economic growth scenarios, population trends, and analyses of the economic impacts of climate change.

At the same time, the team is working with SEMARNAT and INECC on a Socioenvironmental Atlas of Climate Change, which will provide access to data on climate patterns, agricultural and biodiversity models, socioeconomic information, and critical infrastructure across Mexico.

Among the program’s main achievements is the report “State and Prospects of Climate Change in Mexico: A Starting Point,” whose second volume is now being prepared. The upcoming report will include academic contributions to Mexico’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

“In 15 years of existence, the university program has consolidated the largest and longest-standing research network in Mexico dedicated to climate change, involving numerous institutions and universities from across the country and Latin America,” Estrada said.

All partner nations are required to present their NDCs at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), which will be held in Belem, Brazil this November. These updated commitments will outline each nation’s strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen adaptation to climate impacts under the Paris Agreement framework.