Mexico - Aguascalientes
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The Urban Pathways Implementation Tracker is tracking the Projects Progress |
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Pilot City: Aguascalientes
Status: finished The city of Aguascalientes, the capital of the state with the same name, is located in the southern border of the state, in the central-northern region of Mexico. The city of Aguascalientes generates 7.31 million tCO2-eq, annually. In 2011, the energy sector accounted for 60.7% of the national GHG emissions with 498.51 tCO2-eq, of which the transport sector represented about 40% and electricity generation 30.8%
Energy: In Aguascalientes city 99.8% of households are connected to the electricity grid, 15% have a solar water heater, 0.5% have a solar panel for electricity generation and 49% uses energy-saving light bulbs (INEGI, 2015). In the state of Aguascalientes there are five transmission substations that supply energy to all its municipalities. By sector, the energy consumption of Aguascalientes is distributed as follows: 50% transport, 32.08% industry, 15.4% residential, 3.26% agricultural and 2.76% commercial. The state of Aguascalientes is an appropriate region for the installation of systems with high incidence of solar radiation, which can generate about 19 MJ/m2 in the year. Therefore, the government intends to regulate it and ensure its sustainable use through the State Program of Renewable Energies. Transport: The road infrastructure network of the state is composed of 347 km of federal highways, 1,020 km of state roads and 608 km of rural roads. The municipality does not have a mass transit system such as metro, rapid transit buses or passenger trains. Furthermore, it does not have a road for freight transport either. Regarding railway infrastructure, there are 133 km of tracks, However, this infrastructure does not transport passengers. The transport sector accounts for 35% of the 7.31 million tCO2-eq that the municipality of Aguascalientes produces each year. In order to reduce the GHG and SLCPs emissions, the government of the state planned an Integrated Metropolitan Transport System (SIT by its Spanish acronym), to be financed by BANOBRAS, a Mexican Development Bank. Moreover, the Municipal Development Plan (PDMA, 2017) established the commitment to expand the infrastructure for non-motorized transport currently composed of bicycle routes; and strengthen and generate schemes for promotion, education and dissemination of a new culture that fosters non-motorized mobility through educational projects that raise awareness about the use of bicycles. Waste: The municipalities of Aguascalientes have excelled at national level for its system of sweeping, collection and final disposal of urban solid waste. However, further programs are required for the reduction, reuse and recycling of waste (PDMA, 2017). Despite the significant amount of waste with recyclable character, only 0.4% of the total generated waste is recycled in the municipality. Recycling is being promoted through the Friendly Action Program through which the waste producers take the materials to collection centers and receive money in exchange, which they can choose to claim or donate to organizations linked to the program. The final disposal of the city’s waste is carried out at the San Nicolás landfill, which generates 2.2 kWh electric power, however, according to its Municipal Development Plan (2017), the state has no planning or coordinated work to reuse this natural renewable and clean resource. |
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Factsheets
Staus: In progress The factsheets provide a basic introduction to specific measures in the areas of energy, mobility and waste management, which aims to provide a basket of possible solutions to partner cities. Factsheet: Bike sharing and public bicycle systems
Bicycle-sharing systems fill in the gap between public transport and destination points, and satisfy citizens’ demand for short trips, reducing the time of commutes. In general, bicycle-sharing systems increase the choices of and accessibility to attractions by giving locals a wider range of destinations beyond their walking range at a low cost. By providing an alternative to the use of private vehicles, this transport mode also helps improve air quality and reduce transport congestion and noise. In addition, cycling brings both physical and mental bene ts for its users, and can help improve the urban image of a city and its culture. Case Study: Mexico city’s Bicycle-sharing system (Mexico) |
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E-learning Programme
Status: In progress Learning resources on Mobility, Energy and Waste Management E-learning programme builds on the toolbox and factsheets and aims to provide a better understanding of possible actions, highlighting the experiences from the implementation of measures in other cities building on the wealth of knowledge of international experts. |
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Action Tracker
Status: In progress Gives an overview of the Projects progress The Urban Pathways Action Tracker provides an overview of the project’s activities in the cities and reflects on the various action areas. The main objective of this is to share learnings with other cities and identify opportunities for synergies with other projects and initiatives. |
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Capacity Building
Status: In progress
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City-to-City Partnerships
Status: In progress The partner cities will be supported by exchanging ideas with their peers in other cities who have developed successful urban mobility, energy and resource management solutions. This will focus on the story behind the success on governance, finance and regulatory issues.
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Regional Replication
Status: work in progress Urban Pathways events on mobility and waste under ‘environMENTALISE’ initiative Urban Pathways is organising several events under an initiative ‘environMENTALISE –co-creating safe, friendly and green neighbourhoods’ in cities in Latin America, Africa and Asia that contribute to raising awareness about the environmental, health, social and economic benefits of non-motorised transport, as well as of waste reduction. EnvironMENTALISE, an initiative of Wuppertal Institute, UN-HABITAT and UN Environment under the Urban Pathways project, includes awareness raising and capacity building activities on-site (car-free day, tactical urbanism, etc.) and online (webinars). For this purpose, Urban Pathways is collaborating with municipalities and local stakeholders in the region and cooperating with several organisations (such as ITDP Mexico, WRI India, ICLEI, FabLab Barcelona and Ciudad Emergente) and initiatives (such as World Habitat Day 2019, Waste Wise Cities Campaign, European Mobility Week 2019, Day of walking and cycling to school 2019, African Mobility Month). The participating cities will be provided with an air quality monitoring device ‘Smart Citizen kit’ to measure the impact of the activities on-site. The cities joining the initiative are Belo Horizonte (Brazil), Quito (Ecuador), Aguascalientes (México), Cuenca (Ecuador), Kochi (India), Nairobi (Kenya), Kampala (Uganda) and Kathmandu (Nepal). |
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Policy Environment Assessment
Status: Finished Mexico is the 11th most populated country in the world with an estimated population of 124,574,795 inhabitants and an annual population growth rate of 1.12% (CIA, 2018). The country is the 10th largest global GHG emitter accounting for 1.68% of global emissions. Nevertheless, it is the first developing country to pass a general Climate Change law and has voluntary pledged $10 million to the Green Climate Fund. In 2010, its national emissions in units of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) amounted to 748,252.2 Gg, with an annual average growth rate of 1.5% (CICC, 2012). According to the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI, 2018), the country is performing relatively well (fig.3) in the policy category due to the actions taken by the government, such as the reduction of subsidies to fossil fuels, which leads to a high rating. However, its low-rated 2030 target for clean energy and its lack of compliance with the road below 2°C, makes Mexico one of the worst performing countries in the renewable energy section.
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Policy Recommendations
Status: Pending Policy measures at the local and national level can be critical to the transformation of urban energy, mobility and resource sectors, for example they regulate systems, provide technological standards, generate funding, impose taxes and set policy objectives. As part of the cooperation with the partner cities, Urban Pathways provides on-demand policy advice. |
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Implementation Facility
Status: Work in progress The Implementation Facility coordinates the delivery of the project and creates synergies with other initiatives working in the Urban Pathways areas and regions. The facility focuses on knowledge exchange, co-creation and collaboration with partner projects working in the Urban Pathways cities. |
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Bankable Projects
Status: Pending Urban Pathways develops scalable pilot projects in cooperation with the partner cities at a neighbourhood level with an aim to provide a proof of concept of urban energy, mobility and waste management solutions. Based on the pilot project demonstrators, larger-scale projects will be developed to utilise the CO2mitigation potential of an integrated urban energy, mobility and resource management approach and seize the opportunities for contributions the Sustainable Development Goals. This will be done in close cooperation with finance partners and will be geared towards the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility and similar sources of funding and financing. |
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Implementation Support
Status: Pending The Urban Pathways team actively support partner cities in the implementation of urban energy, mobility and waste management solutions. This support includes activities jointly initiated under this project and other relevant actions currently on-going in the partner cities. |
