MEXICO CITY ( Associated Press) – Mexico on Friday pledged to reduce its polluting methane emissions, boosting solar power, particularly through private investment along the border with the United States, as the country’s… 35% of all energy comes from clean and renewable sources. 2024.
This was stated by President Andres Manuel López Obrador at the Forum of Major Economies on Energy and Climate in which he virtually participated.
Mexico’s commitments come after a visit to the country by John Kerry, the Joe Biden administration’s special envoy for climate, and months after receiving strong criticism, among others, of the United States, for backed laws that state energy companies. benefits – which are more polluting – limiting the access of private renewable energy companies to the market.
Now his bet is still focused on those state companies, although he wants them to pollute less. That’s why he said his government would modernize the Federal Electricity Commission’s 16 hydroelectric plants and allocate $2,000 million to reduce methane gas emissions by 98% in the exploration and production processes of Petroleos Mexicanos, which is still burning. Is. A significant amount of gas in its wells.
As Kerry explained this week, the Mexican president has worked intensively in recent days with US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar in an effort to negotiate talks with energy companies in that country.
The main criticism of the sector has been the lack of legal certainty to invest in clean energy.
On Friday, López Obrador said it has a “commitment with 17 US companies in the energy sector to guarantee investment to generate 1,854 megawatts of solar power and wind power” and address the construction of solar parks along the border with the United States. is being imposed. , as well as building transmission networks that allow California to export electricity to other states as well.
However, Mexico continues to bet on fossil fuels with the modernization of six refineries, the purchase of one in Texas and the construction of a new one in the south of the country.
López Obrador said he is also joining the commitment of the world’s most important economies that by 2030, 50% of vehicles produced have zero pollution emissions. “In this case, in our case, the fact that just three months ago we nationalized lithium, a strategic mineral in the manufacture of batteries, would be fundamental,” he said.
