Guadalajara, Jal. Faced with the climate emergency facing the planet and to mitigate the increase in global average temperature, the productive sector and the authorities of Jalisco formed the Business Alliance for Climate.
Businessmen and the government seek to decarbonize the state’s economy with goals set for the year 2050 and improve the competitiveness of the industrial sector both nationally and internationally.
The companies that join the alliance undertake, in the first year, to report and make their inventory of direct emissions and those associated with electricity consumption transparent.
For the second year, the commitment is to report its inventory of the emissions generated throughout the production chain, as well as to establish objectives to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The alliance will focus on capacity building, certification schemes, carbon pricing mechanisms that will have to do with both incentives and green taxes, and generate a sustainable economy agenda.
Until last November 2, 21 companies and 25 business chambers and associations had joined; Among others, Diageo, Phillip Morris México and Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, as well as business organizations and associations.
“There is no competition between us when it comes to preserving natural resources in the state,” said Diageo supply chain director Guillermo Donayre, highlighting the Charco Bendito project in the Cajititlán lagoon, in which nine companies installed in the entity work together in the preservation of water resources.
“A significant proportion of our investments go to natural resource conservation initiatives; proof of this is the collaboration and commitment we have with the authorities in the implementation of initiatives such as the Agave Environmental Responsible Certification (ARA) ”, he indicated.
We know that the industry is part of the problem, but it is also part of the solution and we have to get into it, ”said Rubén Masayi González Uyeda, coordinator of the Council of Industrial Chambers of Jalisco (CCIJ).
Business opportunity
“The sustainable economy agenda is also a business opportunity (…) In the meetings with different ambassadors, especially from European countries, absolutely everyone talks about sustainable economy; it is an opportunity for the different sectors to connect to this trend that in a few years will be a market requirement ”, commented Xavier Orendain, the strategic coordinator of Development and Economic Growth of Jalisco.
He indicated that the current trend shows that there will be exponential growth in sustainable investment, the imposition of carbon tariffs by the United States and Europe, audits of global supply chains, a demand for sustainable products by consumers and an increased government regulation.
Faced with this scenario, businessmen and the government decided to work together to trigger low-carbon economic development, minimize the risks associated with climate change, and create new niches for innovation, entrepreneurship, and the attraction of investment and financial resources.
“The climate emergency requires joint and intersectoral action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and compounds, as well as adapt and reduce our vulnerability to the impacts of climate change,” said the coordinator of Territory Management of the state government, Patricia Martínez Beard.
He stressed that there are already cases of similar alliances on an international scale, such as The European Green Deal of the European Union, and Race to Zero of the United Nations Organization for Climate Change of which Jalisco is a part.
The Business Alliance for Climate will be presented within the framework of the COP-26 Conference of the Parties on Climate Change that takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.
Although he could not personally attend the climate summit for health reasons, Governor Enrique Alfaro indicated that in addition to the business alliance, the Jalisco representation will present tequila as the first distillate in the world free of deforestation, as well as the first line of all-electric transportation throughout Mexico.
In the same way, he said, the Metropolitan Climate Action Plan will be presented, which deserved the recognition of the UN and “which put Guadalajara next to cities such as Paris or Samso in Denmark, as leaders in the way the climate issue is addressed” .
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx