Mexico City Hosts COP30 Strategy Summit: Sustainability Week

This week in sustainability: Mexico City hosted a regional summit to shape a unified Latin American and Caribbean strategy ahead of COP30 in Brazil. Meanwhile, Google introduced a new methodology to measure its AI models’ energy and water consumption, alongside carbon emissions. Additionally, SEDATU unveiled its 2025 report on the UN’s New Urban Agenda, highlighting progress in agrarian and indigenous rights, infrastructure development, and urban climate resilience.

More updates below:

Mexico Hosts 22 Nations to Advance Regional COP30 Agenda

Ministers and delegates from 22 countries gathered this week in Mexico City for the first Latin America and Caribbean Ministerial Meeting on Regional Climate Action, aiming to develop a unified strategy ahead of the COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil. At the meeting, President Sheinbaum outlined Mexico’s vision for COP30, emphasizing four pillars for sustainable development: social equity, economic inclusion, environmental protection, and defense of sovereignty. 

Google Releases AI Energy, Carbon Measurement Methodology

Google has released a comprehensive methodology to measure the energy, water, and carbon emissions of its AI models, addressing the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence. Over the past year, improvements in model efficiency have led to a 33-fold reduction in median energy consumption and a 44-fold decrease in carbon footprint per Gemini Apps text prompt.

SEDATU Reports Progress on UN New Urban Agenda Goals

Mexico’s Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU) presented its 2025 progress report under the UN’s New Urban Agenda, highlighting advances in agrarian rights, mobility, indigenous rights, infrastructure development, environmental resilience, and urban sustainability. The report provided data on each of these targets, including land regularization for 5.2 million people, the issuance of 116 thousand land titles; investments in Yaqui, Wixárika, Rarámuri-Tarahumara, and Tepehuán communities; and 63,000 rebuilt homes in earthquake-hit areas in Central and Southern Mexico.

Authorities Launch Restoration Effort on Tula River in Hidalgo

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) conducted a river cleanup and restoration effort along the Tula River and its feeder canals, involving 219 participants from both government and civil society. Authorities and volunteers removed 1.5t of waste, 26m3 of organic matter, and 7m3 of debris. 

Mexico City to Promote Circular Economy in Fashion

The Mexico City Congress reformed its Solid Waste Law in an attempt to counter the impact of fast fashion, assigning responsibilities to the city government to develop programs for the collection, recycling, and final disposal of textile materials. The changes define textile waste as any textile material or product made with textiles that is no longer in use or considered unsuitable for its original purpose, such as clothing, footwear, bags, and other items.