Mexico Strengthens Climate Action Through Urban Strategies

Cities, home to over half of the world’s population and responsible for a majority of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, play a critical role in addressing climate change. Mexican authorities are advancing strategies to strengthen urban climate action and align local policies with national and global climate goals.

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), in collaboration with UN-Habitat, conducted a participatory workshop aimed at strengthening the urban components in the update of Mexico’s Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0 (NDC). The workshop sought to identify opportunities, challenges, and concrete proposals to advance more robust urban climate action aligned with both national and subnational priorities.

The session focused on identifying gaps, institutional capacities, and technical tools to enable greater inclusion of urban components within climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. It also aimed to facilitate exchange among government officials, technical experts, and civil society actors to build a shared understanding of the strategic role cities play in meeting national climate commitments.

The workshop explored multiscale and multilevel coordination mechanisms designed to improve alignment between national climate policies, state-level land-use planning policies, and municipal urban policies. During the sessions, participants assessed opportunities to integrate urban actions into the NDC across the pillars of mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, cross-cutting issues, and means of implementation. A roadmap was subsequently developed, considering elements such as strategic priorities, timing, institutional responsibilities, and feasibility.

Among the most significant proposals emerging from the workshop was the generation of data to develop indicators capable of tracking progress in incorporating a gender perspective as part of climate adaptation measures. Other proposals addressed topics such as electromobility in cities and the need to integrate a circular economy approach into urban water management.

Workshop participants emphasized that urban elements are key inputs for adaptation and mitigation efforts. Currently, cities house 56% of the world’s population and account for 70% of energy consumption and 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. Urban populations are also among the most vulnerable to climate-related risks.

Experts highlighted the importance of differentiating impacts across population centers, as effects vary by region. The World Bank report, Prosper: Making Cities Green, Resilient, and Inclusive in a Changing Climate, notes that cities in low-income countries contribute only about 14% of global urban CO2 emissions, yet they face the most severe climate-related hazards.

According to the United Nations, the climate impacts most affecting cities worldwide include increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as floods, storms, and wildfires. Other phenomena, including rising sea levels, which increase flood risks, as well as heat waves and air pollution, further compound urban vulnerability. 

These risks pose serious threats to public health, food system security, water availability, and the integrity of natural systems. Climate impacts also tend to exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities, particularly in developing countries, where cities face rising rural-to-urban migration, often intensified by climate-related displacement.

To address these challenges, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) emphasizes the need to prioritize increased climate investments, ambitious urban planning, and strong policies that enable cities to translate global climate goals into achievable local solutions. “The demographic, economic, and environmental importance of cities makes them key spaces to accelerate the implementation of climate policies with transformative impacts,” specialists highlighted during the SEMARNAT-led workshop.