He was a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in elucidating the threat to the Earth's ozone layer of chlorofluorocarbon gases (or CFCs).
He became the first Mexican-born citizen to ever receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.In 2004 Molina accepted the positions of professor at the University of California, San Diego and the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Molina is also Director of the Mario Molina Center for Energy and Environment in Mexico City.
Molina was a climate policy adviser to the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto.