Celebrating 15 Years of UNAM’s Climate Change Research Program

On April 13, 2010, UNAM established the Climate Change Research Program (PINCC), an initiative designed to promote cutting-edge research on climate change through a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach, aimed at generating knowledge to inform decision-making.

As a university program, one of its core missions is to engage the government and society in climate science by convening, integrating, and coordinating UNAM’s efforts and resources related to this global phenomenon, explained Francisco Estrada Porrúa, Coordinator of the PINCC.

Affiliated with the Office of Scientific Research, the program also seeks to strengthen UNAM’s leadership at both national and regional levels in research on the causes and consequences of climate change, adaptation, mitigation, and risk reduction efforts that contribute to the well-being of Mexico’s current and future populations and to the conservation and restoration of its natural systems.

Estrada Porrúa highlighted some of the program’s achievements over its first 15 years. These included advancing climate change knowledge in Mexico, informing decision-making processes, building the largest and longest-standing academic network on the subject with regional impact, and developing frontier research projects and tools.

Meanwhile, Jorge Zavala Hidalgo, Director of the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate Change (ICAyCC), emphasized that these 15 years are worth celebrating. He pointed out that the PINCC has successfully mobilized the university’s expertise in knowledge generation, technological development, and innovation to address issues of national importance and social impact.

Among the PINCC’s major accomplishments, he cited the 2015 Mexican Climate Change Report, its annual conferences, ongoing public outreach efforts, and the publication of State and Perspectives of Climate Change in Mexico: A Starting Point, released in 2023.