Public-Private Alliance Promotes Environmental Safety in Monterrey

The Monterrey Metropolitan Environmental Fund (FAMM) has established itself as a key player in addressing the city’s environmental challenges. Established as a nonprofit organization whose members are primarily companies in the region, the fund operates along three main pillars—forests, water, and air quality—and seeks to develop science-based projects.

Rodrigo Crespo Elizondo, the fund's director, spoke about the organization and its collaboration with the local government.

The FAM operates as an environmental compensation mechanism in coordination with the State Secretariat of the Environment, helping companies that have caused environmental impacts to review their remediation or compensation efforts through the fund’s projects. It also maintains close coordination with municipalities on tasks such as urban tree planting—ensuring that underground infrastructure is not damaged—and responding to forest fires in collaboration with Civil Protection.

One of FAMM’s most important projects is “Reconnecting with Water,” launched in partnership with the Monterrey Water and Drainage Service. The initiative is progressively addressing major sectors of the drinking water distribution network to improve supply and metering. The project involves investment from companies such as the FEMSA Foundation and Arca Continental, as well as funds from environmental compensation programs. The biggest challenge is that unaccounted-for water in the distribution network exceeds 30%.

In addition, the fund has collaborated with Agua y Drenaje to conduct an energy audit of its pumping system, funded by the Development Bank of Latin America. After analyzing the efficiency of various pumping stations that were operating with technology that had reached the end of its useful life and was consuming a high amount of electricity, FAM proposed an investment portfolio to quickly recover resources and improve the system’s efficiency. It is also collaborating with the IDB and carrying out water balancing projects with Heineken.

The most significant sustainability challenges in Monterrey are: air quality, water quality, and forest conservation