LONDON, England — Mérida Mayor Mauricio Vila Dosal announced in London that Mérida has been included in the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, and that this new inclusion will allow the capital of the state to be one of the Ibero-American cities with better opportunities to receive technical resources both for renewable energy development projects and for local climate and energy projects.
During the past week, the mayor held a conversation with Mark Watts, executive director of the C40 Sustainable Cities Funding initiative, with whom he shared the experiences and measures that the City of Merida has made to mitigate the effects of Climate Change.
(Photo: Yucatán a la Mano)
Mark Watts posed to Mayor Vila the advantages of Merida’s adhesion to the agenda of sustainable cities that belong to the Global Covenant of Mayors and their participation in the forum of the C40, in this way cities can obtain technical supports in order that they become carbon low-emission centers, in accordance with the objectives of international agreements on the subject.
He remarked the importance that Mérida have an inventory that quantifies the main sources of greenhouse-effect gas emissions, as an indispensable first step, to access resources for the provision of technical assistance for Climate Change.
Among other issues, Mark Watts explained that the C40 Sustainable Cities Funding initiative includes the promotion of green bonds, credit grants from public or private institutions whose resources are used exclusively to finance or refinance eligible green projects or projects linked exclusively to sustainable activities.
Mark Watts has led various global organizations focused on reversing the negative effects of Climate Change. For 8 years he was the consultant of Ken Livingstone, former mayor of London, on the subject of sustainable transport and currently provides worldwide support through C40 to business leaders firmly committed to reversing Climate Change and promoting the development of sustainability in benefit of the citizens, one of the main goals to which the administration presided over by Vila Dosal has been committed.
The dialogue between Mayor Mauricio Vila and Mark Watts was replicated by Darius Nassiry, director of Global Green Growth in his social networks. The investment banker specialized in the energy sector of the United States and Europe was one of the leaders invited to this international forum of mayors, businessmen, representatives of non-governmental organizations and opinion leaders from Africa, Europe, Latin America, the United States, Asia and Oceania that have committed to the reduction of a high percentage of carbon dioxide by 2030 and 50% by 2050, among other advances.
Dialogue with Ani Dasgupta, global director of WRI
Ani Dasgupta global director of the World Resources Institute and Mauricio Vila Dosal Mayor of Merida City. (Photo source: Diario de Yucatán)
Mayor Mauricio Vila also had a conversation with Ani Dasgupta, global director of the World Resources Institute (WRI), another one of the 200 guests to the Second Annual C40 Forum “Financing Sustainable Cities”.
As we can remember, the World Resources Institute (WRI) was the institution who donated the inventory of greenhouse gases, which cost more than 1.5 million pesos.
The municipal president informed Dasgupta several of the strategic lines of the Mérida City Council on Climate Change and the recent signing of a letter of intent for collaboration and cooperation together with the WRI with the aim of promoting programs, strategies and specific actions tendencies to use efficient energy, in the framework of the highest presentation of results “Moving to Mexico towards a Low Carbon Economy for Energy Efficient Buildings” carried out in recent days in Mexico City.
Ani Dasgupta was Director of Knowledge and Learning at the World Bank and has been dedicated to international development for more than 15 years in the areas of urban development and infrastructure.
Mayor Mauricio Vila also participated as an attendee at conferences given by people such as Nick Hurd, the State Minister for Climate Change in England who established the role of government to support cities that are committed to sustainability.
The British official said that cities that are committed to the support and use of information technologies have a higher economic performance and a greater competitiveness, raising the quality of life of its inhabitants.
The C40 initiatives, presented at the forum in London, focused on Adaptation and Water, Energy, Finance and Economic Development, Solid Waste, Transport, Planning and Urban Development.
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