The second day of the North American Leaders Summit ended with a message to the media in which both the President of the United States, Joseph Biden, and the President of Canada, Justin Trudeau, emphasized the importance of clean energy.
On August 23, the first consultation requested by both countries on Mexican energy policy was held under the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC), after considering that Mexico's public electricity company is prioritized over investments by American and Canadian companies.
Right in the last round of questions at the press conference held at the National Palace on January 10 at the Summit of North American Leaders, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador preferred to talk 27 minutes on the topic of migration, ignoring, among other questions asked by the press, about whether he spoke to the president of Canada and the United States regarding the energy consultations of the T-MEC.
Óscar Ocampo, energy coordinator of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness A.C. (IMCO), said that he sees it as positive that the consultations are continuing at this time, “the last word has not yet been written on this topic.”
For the coordinator, there would be no influence on the part of the leaders in the initiated consultation process. “At the end of the day, the summit is a political meeting of the three North American leaders, but it's not necessarily related to the consultation. At the end of the day, it is a procedure that is established in the T-MEC itself, let's say, technical, bureaucratic, not political. They're two different tracks, so to speak.”
However, the proposal of the Secretariat of Economy in early December to its counterpart from the United States, Katherine Tai, for the third round of consultations was to establish tri-national working groups, and that if progress was made, they could be presented at the Summit.
But there was no such announcement. Today, President Biden will travel back to the United States and López Obrador will have one last meeting with Trudeau.
On Monday, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, commented that the bilateral meeting they would have with the United States would discuss several axes besides security and migration, in which the environment and climate change stand out.
The foreign minister emphasized that there would be talk of the Sonora plan, a project focused on renewable energy through the construction of a solar power plant, lithium exploitation and the production of electric cars.
“Although it is true that the Sonora plan is a milestone in energy policy, because it is separated from fossil fuels, it is not enough, it is insufficient in the face of the energy reality of our country, and of the North American region,” said Arturo Carranza, director of Energy Projects at Akza Advisors.
For Carranza, this proposal by the current administration is a political wink, but it is insufficient for his counterparts in the United States and Canada to stop “ignoring the contradiction that this government's energy policy implies with respect to the T-MEC”, which states that there should be no preferential treatment for public companies or companies in the country parties.
On January 9, the same day that Biden arrived in Mexico, the IMCO released a statement about the opportunity that was coming with the meeting for economic integration and competitiveness in the region, in which it described the Sonora plan as “not credible”.
“The amounts are extremely high, just to put it into context: in 7 years, we intend to invest more than what has been invested in private electricity generation since 1992,” Ocampo said.
According to the representative of the IMCO, this effort cannot be achieved without private investment, to which this federal government has been reluctant.
“We are already in 2023 and to date there is no critical route for the implementation of the plan, there are no details of what solar parks are planned to be developed (...) we are talking about photovoltaic solar parks in Sonora, in Juchitán, but beyond that we don't know anything,” said the coordinator.
Without taking your finger off the line
Photo: Presidency
During his speech in Mexico City, President Trudeau highlighted Mexico's role as a partner in supply chains and how to ensure that they are reliable with respect for the environment.
“We can boost our economic resilience even more by working to create a clean economy, things like clean energy, including hydrogen, manufacturing zero-emission vehicles, and encouraging more people to adopt them.”
For his part, Biden said that the leaders had spoken about commitments to make North America a “clean energy focus”, something he believes is within the reach of all three countries.
“We can be global leaders in the climate crisis, that means working together to have zero-emission vehicles, to establish electric vehicle charging stations that go one side of our international borders to the other, that means exploring the market for energy from hydrogen. And work to achieve our ambitious objectives under the Paris Agreement, including carbon and carbon emissions,” said the president of the United States.
The energy transition is key to reducing these emissions, and the Biden administration has overturned the policies of its predecessor Donald Trump, who supported fossil fuels and disliked climate goals.
“Mexico could be a major exporter of clean energy to its neighbors because of its potential world-class renewable energy resources, making North America a clean energy focus,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on her Twitter account on January 9.
The energy sector emits two-thirds of polluting emissions, hence the need to take action, speaking in global terms, said Carranza.
Mexico is one of the 10 largest emitters of methane, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) index.
On this account, the civil organization Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental has called on the Mexican government to be consistent with what was said during this summit and to take the necessary steps to reduce its methane and black carbon emissions.
However, during the joint message of the presidents of North America, López did not talk about energy. And the still-suspended energy reform awaits a resolution in the Judiciary, while dialogue on this issue has been a constant.
“The government (of the United States) has attached great importance to the issue of climate change, so much so that the special envoy for climate change currently headed by John Kerry, giving it a cabinet level that is not a minor issue (in reference to the message sent by the White House). In a year, Kerry has been to Mexico four or five times, which is not normal for an official at that level in the United States,” said Ocampo.
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