On the same September day that activist Greta Thurnberg gave a fiery speech in New York demanding world leaders tackle climate change, Mexico\u2019s president was touting achievements of a wholly different kind: increasing funding for oil production.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re investing in refineries. It hasn\u2019t been done for a long time,\u201d President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters at a news conference in Mexico City.
\n\u201cWhat was invested this year is going to be repeated next year,\u201d promised Lopez Obrador, noting that the government had already funnelled more than 12bn pesos ($600mn) towards revamping oil production.
\nThe leftist leader, who was elected in a landslide last July, has framed the investment as a way to wean Mexico off its dependency on foreign energy supplies, as well as fuelling economic development through increased oil production.
\nBut at a time when countries are facing mounting pressure to curb emissions and stave off threats from a warming climate, environmental experts say the Mexican government is moving in the wrong direction.
\n\u201cWhile Mexico should be abandoning (oil) production, they\u2019re rehabilitating refineries \u2026 under a logic of national sovereignty,\u201d said Leon Avila, a professor of sustainable development at the Intercultural University of Chiapas.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an archaic perspective, based on production in the 70s during the oil boom, and they think they can do the same thing \u2014 when really we\u2019re in another context,\u201d he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
\nLast Monday, Mexico\u2019s government announced it would expand the rules of its \u201cclean energy certificates\u201d (CEL) programme to make them available to older hydroelectric plants operated by state utility company CFE.
\nThe programme previously applied only to new projects, creating an incentive for local and foreign firms to invest in green energy.
\nThe CEL-certified energy can be sold to big companies that are required to obtain a percentage of their electricity from clean sources.
\nBut in a statement on Tuesday, CFE director general Manuel Bartlett Diaz said that, in line with the president\u2019s vision for energy sovereignty, there was \u201cno reason to subsidise private (electricity) generating companies\u201d. Industry leaders and environmental experts said the move weakens incentives for renewable energy investment, and risks Mexico\u2019s compliance with the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight climate change.
\nThe Mexican CCE business council said on Tuesday that the change could jeopardise up to $9bn in foreign and local clean energy investments tied to the original CEL rules.
\n\u201cThe decision detracts from the only mechanism considered by law to drive Mexico\u2019s energy transition and meet the mandatory national clean energy adoption goals,\u201d the CCE said in a statement.
\nThe Lopez Obrador administration has emphasised its commitment to tackle climate change and adhere to the Paris accord.
\nAt a UN climate conference last December, Sergio Sanchez, then undersecretary for environmental protection, said the government would implement \u201cconcrete policies and actions focused both on reducing emissions and adapting to climate change\u201d.
\nThe Mexican senate last week also called on the federal government to declare a \u201cclimate emergency\u201d and take necessary steps to address climate threats.
\nThose can range from wilder weather and rising seas to more crop-killing droughts that can drive worsening poverty and migration.
\nBut at a press conference the following day, the president shied away from recognising climate change as a crisis.
\n\u201cWe have already considered a series of measures to face the climate change phenomenon in the Development Plan,\u201d Lopez Obrador said.
\nBut the president\u2019s description of the plan \u2014 listing conservation efforts but omitting any policies to reduce emissions \u2014 irked environmentalists.
\n\u201cThere is a lack of understanding for the climate crisis we are confronting,\u201d said Claudia Campero from the Mexican Alliance Against Fracking, an advocacy group.
\nAccording to Avila, the university professor, the president has prioritised ending Mexico\u2019s entrenched poverty but is using oil as the primary engine to drive prosperity.
\n\u201cHe should care about climate change, but between climate change and going down in history for ending poverty…
\nwell obviously he prefers that,\u201d Avila said.
\nAmong Lopez Obrador\u2019s most important projects is the construction of a new oil refinery in his home state of Tabasco.
\nThe project is set to cost $8bn, and the government says it would generate up to 23,000 jobs.
\nBut besides boosting Mexico\u2019s carbon footprint, the refinery, at a coastal site, is vulnerable to climate threats, environmental experts said.
\nLocal media reported this week that the property had flooded due to heavy rains.
\nEnvironmentalists also point with concern to the government\u2019s proposed 2020 budget, which would see fossil fuel funding continue to increase.
\nUnder the proposal, the energy ministry\u2019s budget would jump more than 70% compared to last year, to 48.5bn pesos ($2.4bn), following a budget increase this year of over 900% compared to 2018.
\nAccording to an analysis of the budget published in September by a coalition of environmental groups, 96% of the money is intended to support oil and natural gas related projects.
\n\u201cThere is no room for more development of fossil fuel extraction,\u201d said Campero, the fracking opponent.\u201d (But) that\u2019s far from being the vision of this government.\u201d
\nThe budget does include about 56bn pesos ($2.8bn) for \u201cadaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change,\u201d but of this, 70% is being set aside for transporting natural gas, a somewhat cleaner fossil fuel, Campero said.
\nA spokeswoman for the Mexican environment ministry did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
\nConspicuously absent from the budget, advocates say, is funding for expanding renewables, despite the country\u2019s potential to adopt clean energy.
\nAccording to a 2017 study from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which focuses on promoting democracy and social programmes, 80% of Mexico\u2019s energy currently comes from fossil fuels.
\nBut the country\u2019s landscape and weather conditions mean it could supply its electricity needs entirely from renewable sources, the study noted.
\nThe Lopez Obrador administration has appeared reticent to capitalise on this potential, however.
\nIn January, the government cancelled a public auction for companies to bid on clean energy contracts.
\n\u201cMexico is a very rich country in terms of its potential in renewables,\u201d said Pablo Ramirez, a campaigner at Greenpeace Mexico.
\n\u201cBut since the arrival of the new administration, that\u2019s been completely scrubbed off the map.\u201d
\nMexico\u2019s 2020 budget is awaiting final approval by congress this month. – Thomson Reuters Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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