Tec calls on its community to find solutions to fight climate change

After publication of the report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Tec de Monterrey has once again put out a call to the community to actively contribute to solutions that reduce global warming.

In a statement, the Tec emphasized points from the IPCC report: humanity is responsible for the alterations in the climate system, as well as the possibility of reversing some of those changes if action is taken immediately.

“The catastrophic scenario that the new IPCC report reveals, but also diagnoses as avoidable, motivates us not only to renew our commitment but also to raise our climate objective to achieve our goals with the necessary speed,” the statement says.

It also notes that in its recently-published 2025 Sustainability and Climate Change Plan, the Tec aims to assume a leadership role with specific objectives and actions to tackle the climate emergency.

“At the Tec, we recognize that our climate is our future, and we’re taking responsibility for our planet,” it says.

Apart from the call to its community, the institution also urged Mexico’s decision-makers, representatives of the three levels of government, the business and financial sector, and universities and organizations to make climate commitments.

With this call, the Tec aims to contribute  to Mexico’s Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement, establishing goals for carbon neutrality and climate resilience with the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns.

The institution has made several international commitments in recent years in an effort to make progress toward sustainability and combat climate change.

In June of this year, the Tec and 45 leading universities from around the world pledged to continue implementing programs and actions in favor of sustainability, which they did by signing the Hamburg Declaration of 2021 at the Global University Leaders Council Hamburg 2021 (GUC Hamburg).

What’s more, in December 2019, the Tec signed the Global Climate Letter for Universities and Colleges, in which one of the commitments was to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.

The Tec is also part of several global networks that have joined forces on these issues, such as the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3), International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), University Global Coalition (UGC), and La Triada. At the local level, the Tec is part of the Alliances for Climate Action of Monterrey, CDMX, and Guadalajara.

About the IPCC report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the international body in charge of assessing scientific knowledge related to climate change.

On August 8, it released a new report, which highlights the following:

1. Human activity has caused unprecedented alterations in the climate system, generating increasingly intense and severe impacts.   Further warming will intensify the changes we’re already experiencing. 
2. Some of the changes are irreversible. However, a few could be slowed down, and others could be stopped if we reduce global warming.
3. Climate change is already affecting all regions in multiple ways.  Unless there are immediate and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, it’ll be impossible to reduce global warming to 1.5 °C.

After the report was published, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the actions must be forceful.

“Inclusive and green economies, prosperity, cleaner air, and better health are possible for all, if we respond to this crisis with solidarity and courage,” he said.

“At the Tec, we recognize that our climate is our future, and we’re taking responsibility for our planet.”

What is climate change?

According to the UN, greenhouse gases (GHG) occur naturally and are essential for life on Earth, as they prevent some of the Sun’s heat from spreading into space. 

However, humans have produced large amounts of GHG in the atmosphere from industrialization, deforestation, and agriculture for a century and a half, causing global warming.

Climate change has manifested itself in changes in weather patterns that threaten food production, the appearance of more powerful and destructive hurricanes, droughts, desertification of land, and rising sea levels.

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