Quarterly Performance Report January 31, 2017

The program is designed to provide support to the Government of Mexico's Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) in addressing climate change and promoting sustainable development. The EMDAP Adviser, Sean Donovan, serves as a full-time climate change adviser to the General Office of Climate Change Policy at SEMARNAT. In this role, Mr. Donovan provides technical assistance on issues related to Mexico's National Emissions Registry, international coordination on climate change, and the design of a potential national emissions trading system in Mexico. During the second quarter of FY2017, Mr. Donovan continued to support the SEMARNAT climate mitigation team and assisted with various activities, including the development of a communications plan for the carbon market. He facilitated discussions during a planning session to help the team identify potential problems, resources, and solutions to communicating with stakeholders about the development of the new market. Mr. Donovan also attended and assisted with a World Bank/SEMARNAT conference on carbon pricing in Mexico, where he helped develop questions for conference moderators to be asked of conference participants. He participated in a multi-day planning session for SEMARNAT's Office of Climate Change, where he gave suggestions on how to improve communication within the office. In addition, Mr. Donovan acted as a resource for colleagues within SEMARNAT and continued to improve linkages between California and Mexico that will ultimately benefit the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between those parties. He connected some of his SEMARNAT colleagues who had questions about how California conducts monitoring, reporting, and verification of transportation emissions with a former colleague in California who could explain the process and offer documentation for SEMARNAT to use and potentially replicate. Mr. Donovan also worked on the USAID-Stanford Global Development Alliance (GDA), a public-private partnership that aims to maximize the business opportunities presented by the clean energy transition in Mexico. He continued to liaise between SEMARNAT, Stanford, and the California Government and revised the Scope of Work for SEMARNAT. The EMDAP Adviser's accomplishments during the second quarter of FY2017 included the creation of a SEMARNAT communication plan, assisting with the World Bank/SEMARNAT conference, reviewing consultant work, participating in the Office of Climate Change planning session, completing the USAID-Stanford GDA proposal, acting as the main SEMARNAT contact for a software development firm, confirming best practice information for monitoring, reporting, and verification of transportation emissions in California, and explaining which types of emissions reductions can be eligible for compliance offset credit creation to USAID contractors. Mr. Donovan did not experience any major challenges or barriers to his work during this quarter, but he is working on improving communication within SEMARNAT and his office. He noted that the World Bank works often with the International Affairs Office at SEMARNAT, but that the work they are doing is more suited to the Office of Climate Change. Mr. Donovan suggested switching contacts for the World Bank, but it is politically complicated. In the next quarter, Mr. Donovan will focus on advancing the implementation of a carbon market in Mexico, including conducting competitiveness studies for key sectors within Mexico, emulating the competitiveness studies conducted by California. He will also continue to act as a representative of SEMARNAT with various North American stakeholders and work on the USAID-Stanford GDA.