Mexico is expected to make a major announcement on its climate commitment at COP27 this week, but don’t hold your breath.
According to Reuters last week, U.S. climate diplomat John Kerry said that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will make a major announcement on the country’s climate commitments ahead of the COP27 climate talks.
Well, as of this week, there have been no announcements from Mexico, and Lopez Obrador is not expected to come to the climate talks. But, as his critics are saying, there is a lot of deception.
“It’s highly likely that the Mexican government will try to deceive the entire world at Cop27 with false actions and projects that will never be built,” said Carlos Flores, a renewable energy expert in Mexico, reports The Guardian. “We are not going to meet our current pledges, never mind anything more ambitious.”
The Mexican President, known as Amlo, does have a three-point announcement on the country’s climate plans, according to El Economista. It includes the following:
- A reduction in methane emissions from the state-owned oil company, Pemex – an important but existing target for which Pemex has been fined for non-compliance.
- A 1,000MW state-opened solar plant – construction is already underway for a 180MW project, and the government had previously already ruled out further investment to expand the energy potential.
- A lithium commitment. Mexico has the ninth-largest identified deposits of lithium – a crucial mineral for electric vehicles and other green technologies – but there has been no government investment so far in advancing extraction, and none is currently being mined.
According to the carbon action tracker, a nonprofit science group tracking government climate action, Mexico’s climate policies under Amlo “continue to go backward, as fossil fuel use is prioritized and climate-related policies and institutions dismantled.”
Additionally, “For Mexico to achieve even its outdated 2030 climate commitments, it needs to reverse its policies, move away from fossil fuels, foster renewable energy, and tackle the transport sector.”
Back in June this year, Amlo unveiled what he called his 10-point climate action plan at the major economies forum (MEF) on energy and climate held by President Joe Biden.
We learned that the plan included the acquisition and construction of new oil refineries, and Mexico also intended to submit an enhanced 2030 NDC target in line with the Paris temperature goal ahead of COP 27.
Methane gas emissions
One of the most criticized issues in Mexico is the state-owned oil company, Pemex’s Gulf of Mexico flaring problem. Pemex struck a deal in 2016 to invest more than $3 billion to fix its flaring problem at its Ku-Maloob-Zaap offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico
But five years later, the project has been abandoned, according to three sources, reports Reuters. The broken commitment has not previously been reported, and also shows how a powerful state monopoly can get away with just about anything.
.It also shows how, while countries like Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria have cut flaring by investing in infrastructure and strictly enforcing penalties, Mexico is heading in the opposite direction, reports Offshore.
Pemex opted to drop the plan halfway through completion, the three sources said, as low gas prices made it less economically attractive and political priorities shifted to raising oil output. This move was made despite the environmental cost.
Mexico – the world’s eighth biggest methane gas flarer – is under increasing pressure, including from the United States, to cut gas flaring and methane emissions, which are set to worsen as fields age further.
