Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, seen here at a November rally staged in Mexico City to celebrate his administration as he completes the fourth year of his six-year term. (Photo courtesy of Office of the Presidency)
The Mexican government’s new target for lowering greenhouse gas emissions will be impossible to achieve without a dramatic shift in energy policy, climate-change experts say. The pledge, announced in Egypt last month at the United Nations COP27 climate conference, hinges on a massive escalation in renewable energy—a sector that has withered amid President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s fierce embrace of fossil fuels. In its submission to the U.N., the government says Mexico will cut emissions of planet-warming gasses 35% by 2030, up from the goal of 22% Mexico set in 2016. The targets, called nationally determined contributions (NDCs), represent Mexico’s voluntary commitment under the Paris Agreement, an international climate treaty adopted by U.N. members in 2015. The government lists mitigation efforts that range from reducing net deforestation to zero by 2030 to upgrading the electric-power transmission network and exploiting the country’s deposits of lithium, a key... [Log in to read more]
