In this interview, Salvador Rodriguez, Senior Consultant on Sustainable Energy in Buildings at GOPA, discusses how GOPA integrates climate resilience and economic sustainability into infrastructure development and highlights the organization’s collaborative approach with donors, governments, and local stakeholders. His work emphasizes capacity building, long-term impact, and the importance of innovative solutions to mitigate climate change.

Q: Please tell us about your background and your work with GOPA.

Salvador Rodriguez: I've been working with Gopa since 2010, mainly in Mexico but in other countries of the Latin American region too.  I’ve mainly worked in the sustainable built environment, including energy efficiency and renewable energies for social housing and public buildings.

Q: What keeps your passionate about your work at GOPA?

Salvador Rodriguez: I get to help develop better and more sustainable living conditions around the world. As the adverse effects of climate change become more evident and extreme weather events are much more frequent, more work needs to be done at every level of society — public sector, private sector, and amongst individuals — to create a more sustainable world. As an architect specialized in sustainable energy technologies for the built environment, I'm able to apply all my knowledge and my passion to develop policies, tools, and capacity development efforts that have a direct impact on everyday lives.

Q: How do climate resilience and infrastructure development intersect, and what role does economic sustainability play in this relationship?

Salvador Rodriguez: Climate resilience is crucial for every infrastructure project, along with long-term economic sustainability — when infrastructure fails due to weather, financial losses follow. Our projects integrate climate resilience into their DNA from the conceptualization stage, recognizing its direct link to economic sustainability. As green financing becomes more common, governments and banks need to ensure that investments in infrastructure lead to new and innovative buildings that can not only withstand extreme weather events but also help mitigate climate change. In that way, economic sustainability is directly tied to climate resilience.

Q: How does GOPA work with donors alongside local government and institutions when implementing sustainable infrastructure projects?

Salvador Rodriguez: We've worked with a variety of donors, including GIZ, KFW, the European Union, and others whose priorities align with our passion for and expertise in building a sustainable built environment. We work with our donors as partners to find new solutions to complex challenges or design innovative ways to improve existing infrastructure. While we mainly advise policymakers at the federal and local government levels, we also work with housing developers, energy-saving trusts, and other stakeholders to provide better sustainable housing for end users.

One example is a project through which we work with local authorities on sustainable building codes. While local stakeholders recognize the need for change, they often lack the expertise or face legal and regulatory challenges that prevent or slow the implementation of new regulations. Our technical recommendations, the workshops we run to introduce energy efficiency regulations, and the analyses we conduct to determine the best-suited solutions for the local context all contribute to designing frameworks that are practical, scalable, and effective.

Q: Can you give an example of how GOPA works with end users and local communities when implementing sustainable infrastructure projects?

Salvador Rodriguez:  We worked on a pilot project to retrofit houses in Mexicali, an area with a hot and dry climate. Following the project, community members are now more educated on energy efficiency and live in energy-efficient homes with minimum energy use, enabling them to afford their electricity bills and loans. Not only did our work transform the way they feel in their homes, improving their health and comfort, but it also helped the public understand that improving their homes is something possible and feasible, Our services prioritize long-term sustainability through capacity development at all levels, equipping professionals with knowledge they can carry throughout their careers, even if they move to new positions. We prioritize sharing and disseminating knowledge that we build together with local stakeholders by ensuring that our work builds on their existing efforts and by helping them innovate and conduct research. This strategy fosters ownership of the projects, which is key to achieving long-term sustainability.

We developed an energy and water performance rating system for social housing in Mexico, starting with an existing green mortgage program that financed eco-technologies but didn’t quantify energy and water savings. This system allowed the bank to measure the impact of investments in terms of energy, water, and CO2 savings, which could be reported to the national government. This led to the development of Mexico’s first nationally appropriate mitigation action (NAMA), showing how energy-efficient housing can mitigate CO2 emissions. This project attracted international attention and funding from a number of institutions. Over time, we trained professionals to use these tools, which were adopted by public institutions and even private banks. Now, every house has an energy rating system, and we know its CO2 emissions. This has been a long journey, but we've successfully applied this system to both the public and private sectors.