Priorities

• Have government policy move towards favoring clean energy generation
• Increase the ambition of government policy to reduce emissions (e.g., commit to reducing emissions by 50% by 2030)
• Increase funding for the preservation of natural resources
• Institute a carbon tax and incentivize carbon markets
• Support the Mexican Emissions Trading System (ETS)

 

Narrative

This Post aims to recommend a strategy about what Mexico needs to do to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, as recommended by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2012, Mexico was the first developing country to have a General Law on Climate Change, which recognizes the co-responsibility of the public sector and society to act against climate change. Moreover, in 2015, Mexico was the first developing country to include an adaptation component in its intended Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and proposed conditional and unconditional commitments for mitigation and adaptation. However, nowadays, Mexico has shown little interest in reducing emissions and updating its Paris Agreement pledge.

In 2015 Mexico committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 22% by 2030 and 50% in 2050. Furthermore, in 2020, Mexico ratified the Paris Agreement commitments and missed an opportunity to increase its climate ambition, as many other countries did by expanding their targets.

Mexico’s energy and environmental policies require several legal and institutional adjustments to meet climate commitment goals. However, considering Mexico’s renewable energy potential, the Federal Government has an opportunity to reduce emissions and environmental inequalities and produce cleaner energy through decentralized means.

Mexico will not reach its emissions targets unless additional policies are endorsed, such as: raising emission reduction targets, reversing the fossil fuel trend, and expanding renewable energy. Unfortunately, the government has adopted burning fossil fuels as the core of its energy policy, an approach likely to increase the country’s emissions. On the other hand, Mexico’s strategies that could help overcome climate change obstacles include:

• Modifying the Federal Government’s energy policy to move away from favoring fossil fuels and towards prioritizing clean energy generation.
• Increasing the ambition of government policy to reduce GHG.
• Modifying the goal of reducing emissions by 22% by 2030, raising it to 50%, following the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommendations.
• Increasing the budget for activities that preserve natural resources, reverse the effects of climate change, and lay the foundations for sustainable development.
• Putting in place a carbon tax and incentivizing carbon markets.
• Supporting the Mexican emissions trading system (ETS), a market-based instrument that can be used to reduce GHG emissions.

An ETS is an environmental strategy that aims to decrease air pollution effectively by imposing emission limits, providing polluters with several permits compatible with those limitations, and allowing them to purchase and sell those allowances.

In 2019, Mexico published the preliminary basis for an ETS Program as a level market instrument to reduce GHG emissions. Based on the cap-and-trade principle, the government imposed a maximum limit or cap on the total emissions of one or more sectors of the economy, causing some companies in these sectors to hold a permit for each ton of GHG emissions emitted. MÉXICO₂ is a Mexican organization that plays the most important advocacy role in fostering the adoption of this strategy.

MÉXICO₂ is Latin America’s first carbon trading plan experiment. It plays an important role in helping achieve the climate targets set out in the General Law on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. To date, MÉXICO₂ has transacted more than 100,000 tons of CO₂ between Mexican buyers and sellers. According to MÉXICO₂, the most cost-effective technique for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions is emissions trading systems.

Contact:

Eduardo Piquero, General director of MÉXICO₂

Email: eduardop@mexico2.com.mx

 

This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Mexico Country Manager Pablo David Necoechea Porras