| Montreal, 21/06/1996 – The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) -- the tri-national commission formed by the environmental side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) -- is financing feasibility studies for four greenhouse gas mitigation projects in Mexico to help determine their environmental, economic and operational feasibility.
The four projects are:
· A collaboration between Arizona Public Service Company of Phoenix and Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to install a solar and wind powered mini-grid in a village in Baja California, Mexico.
· A cooperative effort by CFE and Mexico’s Institute for Electrical Research to create a l50MW wind energy plant in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.
· Two sustainable community forestry projects in states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico.
All four selected projects demonstrate potential to become Joint Implementation (JI) projects, and are a key element of the CEC’s efforts to promote and facilitate JI in North America. JI refers to the idea that greenhouse gas emissions reductions or offsets in one country may counterbalance emissions generated in other countries in order to achieve reductions agreed to under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC).
The CEC supported projects deal with two principal types of JI projects, which include using existing or new forests to essentially absorb carbon dioxide emissions and substituting renewable energy (such as solar or wind power) for fossil fuel burning electricity generation. Improvements in energy efficiency that reduce emissions may also be considered JI projects.
In addition to supporting projects in Mexico, the CEC is promoting JI in North America by undertaking an analysis of the barriers to and opportunities for increased North American cooperation. In April, the CEC sponsored the first North American workshop on JI, which included participation from government officials and private sector representatives from Canada, Mexico and the United States. Proceedings from the workshop and more details about the CEC’s Climate Change project are available from the Secretariat.
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