Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON
EnergiesNet.com 12 14 2022

Mexico is boosting its Paris Agreement pledge and vowing to cut greenhouse gas emissions 35% by the end of the decade, after environmentalists panned its earlier promise as insufficient. 

The new target, announced by Mexico Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, replaces a prior goal to reduce emissions 22% below a business-as-usual scenario by 2030. Ebrard highlighted the target at a news conference Saturday alongside US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. 

The effort will require $40 billion in investment and some 40 gigawatts of additional clean energy generation, including solar arrays in the Sonoran Desert, Ebrard said. Methane reductions from Petroleos Mexicanos oil and gas facilities also will be essential, he said. 

It was not immediately clear what baseline and target year was being used for Mexico’s new 35% ambition. 

The move follows a series of meetings between US and Mexico officials, including US President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador just a few weeks ago. Other countries, including Turkey also are expected to file an update of their Paris Agreement pledge, known as a nationally determined contribution, next week.

“Increasing the NDCs from several countries, including Mexico, sends a powerful message, in order to accelerate this in the next years,” Ebrard said.

–With assistance from John Ainger.

bloomberg.com 12 13 2022