Green building rating systems top agenda at Mexico workshop
Montreal, 10/22/2007 – Green building experts meeting in Cocoyoc, Morelos, Mexico, this week are taking steps toward developing rating systems for sustainable building in Mexico.
Organized by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) the two-day workshop provides an opportunity for leaders of Mexico’s burgeoning green building movement and international experts to review the development of rating systems for green building and the opportunities that exist to ensure the wider use of green construction in Mexico. In Canada, Mexico and the United States, commercial and residential building operations account for about 23 percent, 30 percent and 40 percent of primary energy consumption, respectively.
According to the Mario Molina Center for Strategic Studies in Energy and the Environment, a key partner in the workshop, “It has become very clear that while valuation methods and the recognition of green building systems are beginning to take hold in the United States and Canada, in Mexico no widespread rating, verification or monitoring system for green building yet exists.
“As a result, it’s necessary to shorten the learning curve for the implementation of such systems, to promote communication between investors and building owners, and profit from the experiences of innovative projects, such as the pilot plan on appraisal of green mortgages already underway.”
The CEC will complete in 2007 a major study on the opportunities and challenges presented by green building in North America. The CEC study will include recommendations by an independent panel of experts to the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States concerning public and private sector measures to foster greener construction.
Who: Green building experts from Mexico, Canada and the United States
What: Workshop on developing green building rating systems in Mexico
Where: Hotel Hacienda Coyococ, Morelos, Mexico
When: 24-26 October 2007
About the CEC
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, in parallel with the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous people, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America’s shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations
The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.