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Le mécanisme est difficile, mais nous n'y renonçons pas.

Le mécanisme est difficile, mais nous n'y renonçons pas.
The mechanism is difficult, but we are not giving up on it.
From Lesson 236:The pronoun 'y' with verbs (y)·French

Questions & Answers about Le mécanisme est difficile, mais nous n'y renonçons pas.

What exactly does y stand for in this sentence?
The pronoun y stands for au mécanisme. The verb here is renoncer à (to give up on something). Because the mechanism is a non-living thing introduced by the preposition à, we replace that entire phrase with y.
Why can't we use the direct object pronoun le and say nous ne le renonçons pas?
In English, you might think of giving up a mechanism as a direct action, but in French, the verb strictly requires the preposition à (renoncer à quelque chose). Direct object pronouns like le are only used when a verb connects to its object without a preposition. Because of the à, you must use y instead.
How does the negative ne ... pas work with the pronoun y here?
Object pronouns like y are glued directly in front of the conjugated verb. When making the sentence negative, the ne and pas act like a sandwich around this entire pronoun-verb package. So nous y renonçons becomes nous n'y renonçons pas. Note that ne drops its vowel before y.
Why is there a cedilla (ç) in renonçons?
The infinitive of the verb is renoncer. For verbs ending in -cer, you must add a cedilla beneath the c before an a or an o to maintain the soft S sound. Without the cedilla, the c in renonçons would be pronounced with a hard K sound.

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