18 January 2023
Canada, Mexico, US Enhance Cooperation on Climate Change, Environment
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The leaders commit to achieving their respective 2030 NDCs under the Paris Agreement while working together to keep the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach.

In partnership with Indigenous Peoples, they pledge to protect biodiversity, work towards ending deforestation, and “do […] our part” to conserve 30% percent of the world’s land and waters by 2030.

North American leaders issued a declaration where they express a shared commitment to “innovation, equitable development, and mutually beneficial trade to create inclusive economic opportunities for the benefit of our people.” They pledge to enhance the region’s security, prosperity, sustainability, and inclusiveness through action across six pillars, including climate change and environment.

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, US President Joe Biden, and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gathered in Mexico City, Mexico, for the 10th North American Leaders’ Summit, from 9-10 January 2023.

In the jointly issued Declaration of North America, the leaders commit to achieving their respective 2030 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement while working together to keep the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach. They undertake “to align approaches on estimating the social cost” of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to continue to implement commitments from the 2021 North American Leaders’ Summit on climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.

The leaders also pledge to:

  • renew focus on reducing methane emissions from all sources, particularly waste methane;
  • explore standards to develop hydrogen as a regional source of clean energy; and
  • accelerate the energy transition by deploying clean energy solutions and increasing the production and adoption of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) in North America.

In partnership with Indigenous Peoples, the leaders pledge to protect biodiversity, work towards ending deforestation, and “do […] our part” to conserve 30% percent of the world’s land and waters by 2030.

The so-called “30 by 30” target is part of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), adopted by parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 15) in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022. The US is not party to the CBD.

The other five pillars include commitments on:

  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion, to be achieved by, among other actions, promoting, in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, innovative and sustainable solutions that honor traditional knowledge, foster Indigenous-led growth, and drive job creation;
  • Boosting regional competitiveness, by, inter alia, forging stronger regional supply chains and promoting investment in key industries of the future such as semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries;
  • Migration and development, to, among others, advance labor mobility and promote safe, orderly, and humane migration;
  • Health, including launching an updated North American Plan for Animal and Pandemic Influenza (NAPAPI) to improve prevention, preparedness, and rapid response to health emergencies in the region; and
  • Regional security against cyber threats, money laundering, child sexual exploitation, firearms and human trafficking, drug trafficking, and natural and human-induced hazards and disasters.

The 11th North American Leaders’ Summit will be hosted by Canada. [Declaration of North America: White House] [Declaration of North America: Prime Minister of Canada] [Declaración de Norteamérica: Gobierno de México]

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