VZCZCXRO1649
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #4856/01 2502220
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 072220Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8796
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 0420
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0398
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1445
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0246
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 0074
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 0060
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0391
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 0320
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0289
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0385
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 0147
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 0610
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 0317
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0467
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY 0269
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0166
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAEPA/EPA WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 MEXICO 004856 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G, E, EEB/ESC, WHA/MEX, WHA/PPC, AND OES/EGC 
DOE FOR PI/KHARBERT/GWARD/ALOCKWOOD 
EPA FOR OIA AND OAR 
WHITE HOUSE FOR CEQ/CONNAUGHTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ENRG MX
SUBJECT: EEB A/S SULLIVAN DISCUSSES MAJOR ECONOMIES MEETING 
ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY SECURITY 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) A/S Dan Sullivan met with a range of senior GOM 
officials to encourage high-level Mexican participation from 
the full range of relevant ministries in the September Major 
Economies Meeting on Climate Change (MEM) proposed by 
President Bush.  Upon being assured that the MEM is aimed at 
contributing to UN climate change efforts, A/S Sullivan's 
interlocutors expressed enthusiasm for attending the MEM and 
agreement with the cross-ministry approach and the focus on 
protecting the environment without sacrificing economic 
growth.  They also concurred that Mexico was well positioned 
to play a bridge role between developed and developing 
economies on climate change.  Two things became obvious over 
the course of these meetings: 1) President Calderon is firmly 
committed to addressing climate change and 2) his 
administration is already coordinating interagency on GOM 
participation in the MEM.  A cautionary note was sounded by a 
foreign ministry official, who asserted that Mexico would not 
be bound by any MEM outcome in terms of its freedom to 
negotiate in the UN process.  End summary. 
 
Broad Range of Meetings 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) From August 29-30, A/S Sullivan met with the 
following senior Mexican officials: Dionisio Perez-Jacome, 
senior domestic policy advisor to President Calderon from the 
Office of the Presidency; Under Secretary Alejandro Werner of 
the finance ministry; Under Secretary Beatriz Leycegui of the 
economy ministry; International Affairs chief Enrique Lendo 
of the environment ministry; Director General for Global 
Issues Ernesto Cespedes of the foreign relations ministry, 
and Director General for International Affairs Aldo Flores of 
the energy ministry.  These GOM officials displayed 
remarkable message consistency over the course of five 
separate meetings, indicating that climate change is an issue 
that receives considerable attention from President Calderon 
and is carefully coordinated among the relevant ministries. 
Below we report the GOM responses to the key points in A/S 
Sullivan's presentation. 
 
MEM Proposal 
------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) A/S Sullivan explained that President Bush proposed 
in May 2007, two weeks prior to the G8 summit, to convene a 
meeting of the world's 15 major economies, who together 
account for 85-90 percent of global emissions, to initiate a 
process aimed at achieving by the end of 2008 a consensus 
among these major players on a post-Kyoto framework that 
could also lead to a global greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction 
goal.  This consensus could then feed into and contribute to 
the negotiations that will take place under the auspices of 
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to 
establish by the end of 2009 a successor regime to the Kyoto 
Protocol, which expires in 2012. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Every one of A/S Sullivan's interlocutors remarked 
 
MEXICO 00004856  002 OF 006 
 
 
on how committed President Calderon is to tackling the issue 
of climate change, and how frequently he raises it with his 
cabinet.  In fact, Flores (energy ministry) insisted that he 
had never attended a presidential meeting on energy issues at 
which Calderon had not discussed climate change.  As further 
evidence, Lendo (environment ministry) and others cited the 
formation of the GOM,s Intersecretarial Commission on 
Climate Change and the publication of its National Strategy 
on Climate Change.  A/S Sullivan and his counterparts also 
pointed to language on energy and the environment in the 
joint statement of the North American leaders from their 
Montebello meeting as explicit proof that both presidents are 
committed to facing this problem, in a way that integrates 
climate, energy security, and economic growth issues. 
 
High-level and Cross-cutting Representation 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) A/S Sullivan highlighted that the U.S. side would be 
represented at very senior levels across an array of 
departments and offices, including State, Treasury, Energy, 
Commerce, EPA, and the Council on Environmental Quality.  He 
encouraged the GOM to follow suit.  He noted that Secretary 
Rice would host the meeting and participation from other 
cabinet members (including Secretary Bodman and Secretary 
Paulson) and their chief deputies was expected. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Presidency's Perez-Jacome (whom A/S Sullivan met on 
Wednesday the 29th) recalled the meeting he had had with 
Under Secretary Dobriansky in May on the MEM.  He said Mexico 
was very interested in the MEM and would definitely 
participate.  He said he would brief Calderon personally on 
the details raised by A/S Sullivan and urge a very high-level 
Mexican team.  The other Mexicans echoed him, saying each of 
their ministries would like to include high-ranking officials 
in the Mexican delegation, though neither the finance, 
economy, or energy ministries could commit to sending anyone 
yet.  At A/S Sullivan's penultimate meeting on Thursday the 
30th, Cespedes (foreign ministry) and Lendo (environment 
ministry) said that Environment Minister Juan Elvira would 
lead the Mexican delegation and that the U/S for Foreign 
Affairs  would attend as well. 
 
¶7. (SBU) There was a similar meeting of the minds on the 
value of including a wide range of ministries in the MEM 
process due to the cross-cutting nature of the climate change 
problem, as already reflected by the composition of Mexico's 
Intersecretarial Commission, which in addition to the four 
ministries that met with A/S Sullivan, also includes the 
agriculture, transport, and social development ministries. 
Werner said the finance ministry is getting involved in the 
climate issue, but admitted that it has been slow to do so 
because of the federal budget and pension and fiscal reform 
(on the latter, see septel).  He strongly agreed that a 
comprehensive, cross-ministry approach is needed.  Indeed, he 
argued that the finance ministry should take part in this 
process so policymakers keep in mind the costs and benefits 
of their actions.  He did not want Calderon telling his staff 
to "do this," and then have people follow through without 
consideration of the expense.  Werner noted that Mexico's 
 
MEXICO 00004856  003 OF 006 
 
 
development banks could play a role in the climate agenda. 
Flores noted that the energy ministry would follow the MEM 
closely, as PEMEX, Mexico,s state petroleum monopoly, was by 
far Mexico,s largest polluter.  Leycegui (economy ministry), 
who met with A/S Sullivan on Thursday the 30th, reported that 
one of her staff had already been called to an interagency 
meeting on the MEM. 
 
Tackle Climate Change Without Sacrificing Growth 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶8. (SBU) A/S Sullivan pointed out that the U.S. was serious 
about climate change, and confident that a global solution 
would not necessarily mean sacrificing economic growth, using 
as an example the fact that last year U.S. greenhouse gas 
emissions dropped 1.3 percent in absolute terms while the 
U.S. economy grew 3.3 percent. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Werner (finance ministry) responded that in some 
instances there might be a trade-off between growth and 
environmental protection, but that this is clearly not so in 
many other cases.  He raised the example of Mexico's 
irrational pricing of energy, which led to both economic 
inefficiency and environmental harm.  Flores (energy 
ministry) remarked that the U.S. had opposed the Kyoto 
Protocol with exactly the reverse argument, i.e., binding 
commitments to reduce emissions would hurt the U.S. economy. 
He suggested that some, largely in Europe, would view U.S. 
leadership in the process with skepticism, adding the caveat 
that it was not clear that Europe spoke with a single voice 
on the issue.  A/S Sullivan said the MEM does mark a shift in 
U.S. policy, but that the U.S. believes it is possible to 
address GHG emissions without negatively affecting economic 
growth.  Flores agreed and noted that this would be an 
important message for China and other large developing 
economies that criticize rich countries for using climate as 
a tool to stymie their own development. 
 
Bridging the Developed and Developing Country Divide 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) A/S Sullivan said that the European governments he 
had briefed on the MEM had responded positively, including 
France.  He then pointed out that strong Mexican 
participation would be key to the MEM's success, as Mexico, 
in some ways like the U.S., was well positioned to serve as a 
bridge between the climate change perspectives and interests 
of rich countries like the EU disposed to Kyoto-like 
approaches and more skeptical but crucially important 
developing countries like China and India. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Presidency's Perez-Jacome agreed, saying that the 
U.S. could help bridge the gap from the rich countries to the 
developing ones, while Mexico could work in the opposite 
direction.  He recalled Calderon's forceful remarks to the 
leaders of the other major developing economies who had been 
invited to the May 2007 G8 meetings in Germany on the 
responsibility of all to do their part to combat climate 
change.  Werner (finance ministry) agreed that Mexico could 
play a "bridge" role, but noted that developing countries 
 
MEXICO 00004856  004 OF 006 
 
 
will always hark back to how developed countries "that have 
already polluted" are now telling them not to pollute. 
Flores (energy ministry), quoting Mexican historian Enrique 
Krause, called Mexico a "pre-modern, modern, anti-modern, and 
post-modern" society, making it well-suited for a mediating 
function between more- and less-developed nations' positions 
in the debate.  Nevertheless, Flores cautioned, Mexico is 
ever-conscious of how its relationship with the U.S. is 
perceived, and Mexico's precise level of involvement in a 
U.S-led MEM process will be calibrated with this in mind.  He 
could not firmly predict Mexico's eventual level of 
involvement. 
 
Contributing to, Not Competing with, the UNFCCC Process 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) A/S Sullivan took great pains to refute allegations 
made in various news media that the MEM is designed to rival 
the UNFCCC process.  He cited the May 2007 G8 summit 
declaration on climate change and the invitation letters 
President Bush had sent to leaders of the 15 major economies 
(including President Calderon) that explicitly contradicted 
these allegations and made clear that the U.S. wants the MEM 
to feed into and contribute to the UNFCCC process.  He 
reported that U.S. had also invited UN Secretary General Ban 
Ki-moon, who had not yet confirmed his attendance but had 
expressed great interest in the initiative. 
 
¶13. (SBU) These assurances were clearly of critical 
importance to the GOM and opened the door to the enthusiastic 
responses received from almost all of A/S Sullivan's 
interlocutors.  Perez-Jacome (Presidency) and Lendo 
(environment ministry) emphasized Mexico's ongoing commitment 
to dealing with climate change principally in the 
multilateral forum, a position they would be sure to 
reiterate at the September MEM, and Leycegui said that 
initially the Calderon administration had been concerned 
about how the MEM would fit in with the UNFCCC, noting that 
the U.S. commitment to working under UN auspices on tackling 
climate change seemed to represent a policy shift.  She asked 
how the MEM would interact with the APEC climate initiative. 
A/S Sullivan replied that the U.S. view was that these 
processes should all complement one another.  Cespedes told 
A/S Sullivan that maintaining the UN framework was essential 
for Mexico; "regional and other multilateral initiatives" 
were acceptable, provided they remain within the UN 
framework. 
 
Mexico Will Not be Bound by MEM 
------------------------------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) Perhaps the most discordant note in response to A/S 
Sullivan's presentation came from Cespedes (foreign 
ministry).  He acknowledged the importance of climate change 
on Mexico's domestic agenda and now on the international 
agenda, and said Mexico was happy to collaborate in gathering 
data under the MEM.  However, he asserted that even if the 
MEM process concluded with an agreement on binding GHG 
emissions targets, Mexico would not consider such an 
agreement to be binding or to restrict in any way its freedom 
 
MEXICO 00004856  005 OF 006 
 
 
of negotiation within the UNFCCC framework.  A/S Sullivan 
responded that achieving consensus would be a challenge, but 
that the whole point of the MEM was to reach agreement among 
the world's major polluters on as many points as possible, 
including emissions reductions, by the end of 2008.  Such a 
consensus would then serve as a basis or impetus for global 
agreement under the UNFCCC.  Cespedes made clear that his 
ministry would take the lead on policy-related aspects of 
Mexico's MEM participation, while the environment ministry 
would lead on the technical aspects. 
 
Specific Agenda Items 
--------------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) To varying degrees depending on the time available 
in each meeting, A/S Sullivan gave a brief overview of the 
draft agenda and solicited GOM input.  He emphasized the 
bottom-up approach we favor of first trying to assess what 
the major economies are already doing and asked the GOM to 
fill in matrices on its existing clean energy policies and 
measures and its climate-related technology research and 
development.  He said that the U.S. would like to focus 
attention on sectoral approaches, highlighting the 
transportation and power generation sectors as particularly 
important. 
 
¶16. (SBU) During discussions of the agenda, the various 
interlocutors commented on issues of particular interest to 
their own ministries.  They also noted that the work done to 
complete President Calderon's National Strategy would 
facilitate their completion of the MEM matrices.  Lendo 
(environment ministry) and Werner (finance ministry) 
mentioned that the Calderon administration had allocated 
money in this year's budget to help combat deforestation, 
which in turn would contribute to carbon sequestration, and 
said they hope to have a similar amount of resources in the 
2008 budget.  Werner also mentioned Clean Development 
Mechanism (CDM) projects that Mexico has implemented on 
converting buses and trains to cleaner fuels and promoting 
the construction of more energy efficient homes.  He said 
there is a need to develop a comprehensive agenda for the use 
of CDM credits in Mexico.  Lendo said his ministry was also 
interested in other land use and sectoral issues.  Flores 
(energy ministry) noted that both the energy and the 
environment ministries have been developing a framework to 
promote the development of biofuels and clean energy, and 
that Mexico has set specific sectoral objectives on 
greenhouse gas emissions, though no national objective.  On 
cooperation with the U.S., Flores noted the recently signed 
SPP agreement on cooperation in Energy Science and 
Technology, and Secretary Kessel's proposal that the U.S. and 
Mexico cooperate on research in Geothermal Energy. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶17. (SBU) The GOM is clearly motivated and coordinated on the 
climate change issue and sees the MEM as a promising 
mechanism worthy of full and active participation, so long as 
progress under the MEM is fully channeled into the UNFCCC 
 
MEXICO 00004856  006 OF 006 
 
 
process to which Mexico gives place of precedence.  Clearly 
Mexico wants to play a constructive role and takes seriously 
the possibility that it can serve as a "bridge" between rich 
and poor countries.  We will need to be mindful of Mexico's 
need to avoid being seen merely as a messenger for the U.S., 
but we can be optimistic that it will bring the right people 
and the right intentions to the September meeting.  End 
comment. 
 
¶18. (SBU) Bio Note:  President Calderon clearly has his 
economic ministries delivering a consistent message on the 
importance of combating climate change.  Presidencia's 
Perez-Jacome had told A/S Sullivan he would brief President 
Calderon and ensure relevant GOM Ministries supported the MEM 
effort.  That very evening, he sent the MEM matrix handed out 
by A/S Sullivan to Cespedes, the foreign ministry lead for 
the MEM, who brought the matrix to the meeting A/S Sullivan 
had at the environment ministry meeting the following day. 
 
¶19. (U) This cable has been cleared by A/S Sullivan. 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
BASSETT