Tec de Monterrey restates climate conference sustainability commitment

After the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, Tec de Monterrey restated its commitment to fighting the climate emergency. 

Inés Sáenz, Vice President of Inclusion, Social Impact, and Sustainability, participated in the conference on behalf of Tec de Monterrey, representing the institution in a panel with the Alliances for Climate Action (ACA) organization.

Following the conference, the Tec analyzed lessons learned and challenges at the panel discussion “Lessons learned and challenges from COP26,“ where Juan Pablo Murra, Rector for Undergraduate Studies, participated alongside Saénz.

Also participating were Cynthia Villareal, Director of Sustainable Development and Outreach, who had also been to Glasgow, and Miguel Ruiz-Cabañas, Director of the Tec’s Sustainable Development Goals initiative.

At the panel, the Tec executives listed actions that are being carried out on the subject, ratified the vision and objectives, and spoke about challenges for the future.

“We had conversations with many global civil society organizations that are taking urgent action to address the climate crisis.”

Tec-government-university collaboration and efforts 

Over the course of the panel, Juan Pablo Murra, Rector of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies, pointed out that the environmental issue is a collective challenge which demands that individuals, societies, and countries learn, share, and reflect on their responsibilities.

“We must find collaboration mechanisms to make our aspirations tangible.”

Inés Sáenz, Vice President of Inclusion, Social Impact, and Sustainability, emphasized how the Tec has involved governments with efforts such as the Race to Zero to lower carbon emissions.

In Glasgow, Saénz reported that the Tec, together with the ACA, had successfully invited the government of Nuevo León and four municipalities (Monterrey, San Pedro, Santa Catarina, and San Nicolás) to join the Race to Zero.

She added that the Tec will seek to do the same, making partnerships with other universities and civil society organizations of various types.

“We want to push this race towards carbon neutrality in Latin American universities. Collaboration is key to achieving progress as a society during the climate emergency.

“We had conversations with many global civil society organizations like C40, a global network of mayors taking urgent action to tackle the climate crisis,” she said.

“Collaboration is key to achieving progress as a society during the climate emergency.”

The Tec is making progress on the 2025 Sustainability and Climate Change Plan

Cynthia Villarreal, Director of Sustainable Development and Outreach, listed some achievements and projections within the six pillars of the Tec’s 2025 Sustainability and Climate Change Plan.

The Tec’s plan includes six pillars and puts culture at the center to guide and boost the other five: mitigation, adaptation, education, research, and outreach.

“In the area of Culture, the achievements of 2021-2022 are the start of a communication campaign, processes, activation of living experiences, and sustainability training programs,” said Villarreal.

“In Mitigation, 39 campuses, high schools, and facilities at the Tec have been evaluated for energy, water, fuel, waste, and mobility consumption.

“We’ve launched competitive processes to build new photovoltaic systems at various campuses in the country,” she said.

The Adaptation area this year has achieved an inventory of 34,745 trees in the facilities of Tec de Monterrey campuses, she said. 

Meanwhile, in Education, the design and deployment of pilot programs in Tec Weeks (TEC21 Educational plan activities) were implemented, and a special sustainable development track was opened at the International Conference on Educational Innovation (CIIE for its initials in Spanish).

“In Research, we’re looking for interdisciplinary research that can find systemic solutions. A fund to encourage this type of research uses campuses as living laboratories,” said Villareal.

Finally, she explained that in Outreach, there’s a drive to be an active institution in local and global partnerships, putting the Tec’s academic, technical, technological, and human capacities at the service of society.

The Director announced that the first sustainability report for the Tec’s 2025 Sustainability and Climate Change Plan will be made available to the public in April 2022.

COP26 Climate Change Conference

On November 9, Tecnológico de Monterrey participated in the panel “Together in the Decade of Delivery: How Collaboration Can Take Us from Commitment to Implementation” at the Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

At the event, which brought together global representatives of organizations and governments that work for the environment, the Vice President of Inclusion, Social Impact, and Sustainability at the Tec presented the institution’s actions for the environment:

“(At COP26) we verified that the Tec’s actions are at the level of any highly prestigious university because our 2025 Sustainability and Climate Change Plan is very comprehensive,” said Sáenz.

COP26, as the conference is also known, brought together world leaders who seek to protect the environment and curb climate change, including maintaining a limit on the increase in the world’s temperature.

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