Mexico is joining the US and Canada in committing to reduce North America’s methane emissions from the oil and gas sector – the world’s largest methane source – 40% to 45% by 2025, the three countries announced in a joint statement.
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Image of Peña Nieto, Trudeau, and Obama. From the White House Twitter. |
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Barack Obama, and Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto share a common commitment to a competitive, low-carbon and sustainable North American economy and society, the White House said in a statement. The Paris Agreement was a turning point for our planet, representing unprecedented accord on the urgent need to take action to combat climate change through innovation and deployment of low-carbon solutions.
North America has the capacity, resources and the moral imperative to show strong leadership building on the Paris Agreement and promoting its early entry into force.
“We recognize that our highly integrated economies and energy systems afford a tremendous opportunity to harness growth in our continuing transition to a clean energy economy. Our actions to align climate and energy policies will protect human health and help level the playing field for our businesses, households, and workers. In recognition of our close ties and shared vision, we commit today to an ambitious and enduring North American Climate, Clean Energy, and Environment Partnership that sets us firmly on the path to a more sustainable future,” the statement said.
Advancing Clean and Secure Power
The historic goal for North America is to strive to achieve 50% clean power generation by 2025.
“We will accomplish this goal through clean energy development and deployment, clean energy innovation and energy efficiency,” the statement said.
Together, it is estimated that the development of current and future projects and policies to achieve this goal will create thousands of clean jobs and support of a vision for a clean growth economy.
The three countries will continue to strengthen the North American Cooperation on Energy Information platform, by including additional geospatial information relating to cross-border infrastructure and renewable energy resources. We also commit to deepened electric reliability cooperation to strengthen the security and resilience of an increasingly integrated North American electricity grid.
Driving Down Short-Lived Climate Pollutants
Short-lived climate pollutants such as methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons are up to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. Common sense actions to reduce these pollutants will deliver significant climate and health benefits in the near term and into the future, supporting our goal to limit global warming this century.
Today (29 June), Mexico will join Canada and the US in committing to reduce their methane emissions from the oil and gas sector – the world’s largest methane source – 40% to 45% by 2025, towards achieving the greenhouse gas targets in our nationally determined contributions. To achieve this goal, the three countries commit to develop and implement federal regulations to reduce emissions from existing and new sources in the oil and gas sector as soon as possible. There will also be a commitment to develop and implement national methane reduction strategies for key sectors such as oil and gas, agriculture, and waste management, including food waste.
The three countries have also pledged to continue collaborating with one another and with international partners as we commit to significant national actions to reduce black carbon emissions in North America, and promote alternatives to highly polluting hydrofluorocarbons.
early warning systems for natural disasters, and cooperate on marine protected areas.
We reaffirm our commitment to work collaboratively to achieve our long term goal of conserving North America’s Monarch migratory phenomena and to ensure that sufficient habitat is available to support the 2020 target for the eastern Monarch population. Trilateral efforts to date have achieved significant successes across the range, including the restoration and enhancement of hundreds of thousands of acres of habitat. We look forward to continued progress and action in the future, building on the population increase for eastern monarchs observed in 2015.
We commit to collaborating with Indigenous communities and leaders to incorporate traditional knowledge in decision-making, including in natural resource management, where appropriate, and in advancing our understanding of climate change and climate resilience. We also recognize the importance of a gender-responsive approach to climate action and sustainable development.
Showing Global Leadership in Addressing Climate Change
Canada, the US, and Mexico will work together to implement the historic Paris Agreement, supporting the goal to limit temperature rise this century to well below 2oC, and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5oC.
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