The energy transition is also a topic for young people. Since the announcement of the initiative to reform the Electricity Industry Act and the environmental problems it would bring with regard to the use of fossil energies, the various youth environmental organizations positioned themselves far from political interests and with an eye on the fight against climate change.
The position resulted in legal action and, last April, the more than 30 youth organizations and groups that make up the #JóvenesPorNuestroFuturo movement filed an amparo against the so-called Fuel Oil Act.
Two of them are Diego Moreno (president) and Alfonso Ramos (coordinator) of the Youth Alliance for Sustainability (Ajuves), a youth organization formed in 2016 to defend the human right to a healthy environment.
“Our impact is mainly in the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City. We have been in Ajusco, in Xochimilco, in the Barranca de Tarango, also in committees in Congress. We are very active because of what it means to be young, with extremely scarce resources, but with the conviction of combating climate change,” said Diego Moreno.
For the members of Ajuves, a youthful and objective vision is necessary in the decisions taken in Mexico in favor of the environment. Mainly, when dealing with issues in the energy sector.
Waste collection day in Ajusco. Photo: Ajuves
— How can we define 2021 in terms of environmental issues in Mexico? Specifically in energy transition.
Alfonso: I would say that for Mexico 2021 was a big setback in terms of energy transition. It was already coming, but this year institutional-legal instruments have come to fruition that we consider to block and make it difficult to continue with the advance to a model of clean energy generation.
The reform of the Electricity Industry Act had several issues that directly affect prioritizing fossil energies in order to continue developing these activities. Now, with the constitutional reform initiative, it has finished being constituted. It's complicated. There is a significant barrier to the issue of transition.
— Do you consider that there is still room to improve the issue of electrical reform?
Alfonso: Yes, we think it's important to continue fighting the legal battle. The position of the Public Administration has become clear and is not its priority. On the other hand, there are also organizations and people who are concerned about environmental issues.
For example, now with the initiative there is the issue of open parliament, which is an interesting democratic exercise, but a little worrying because the environmental approach is not contemplated in the issues that are being raised. The points that will be discussed are economic competition or energy sovereignty, but there is no environmental analysis. It's incomplete.
— Within the legal work they have done in the organization, what are the obstacles faced by young people in their position for environmental defense?
Diego: On the one hand, the issue is resources. Most of us have our daily lives, study, work and, in addition, we make space to combat this type of arbitrariness in the face of the Public Administration.
We have also been threatened because they call us young people who support foreign investment or private interests for not defending reform. Instead of opening the forum to discuss the pros and cons of this process, we have participated in places where the topic is always diverted to other points, as if it is a position of the left or the right. It's a very delicate thing and a big impediment.
We have to fully address the issues of climate change, the defense of the human right to a healthy environment and what other sectors are doing is that they reduce the environmental agenda to their positions. We need a frontal debate and greater support for young activists.
— And as environmentalists in a country like Mexico, why is it necessary for young people to participate in issues such as climate change?
Diego: We identified that many youth climate action movements were not partisan. We wanted to combine climate action with the study of environmental engineers and lawyers to obtain an objective defense, and I think this lies in its importance, in objectivity in terms of protecting the environment without any external or internal interference. Simply in the search for our best future as young people.
— Now that a new year begins, what do you expect from your participation in the energy transition?
Alfonso: First, the discussion of the (constitutional) reform initiative that was postponed to the following year. There, what we have sought is to have representation and to have it discussed from an environmental and youth perspective. The guests invited to the Open Parliament are not from youth organizations, the majority belong to the academy.
I think it's also very worthwhile to continue to spread the word about what we young people are doing on climate change. We think that a very important starting point is that people know about the subject, that they know how it affects them, that it is not something that only scientists or the director of the CFE discuss.
That is why what is next for 2022 is to continue informing, integrating people and publicizing the importance of taking young people into account in terms of public policy for energy transition.
— In contrast, do you think the topic is more accessible to continue opening these spaces?
Diego: I think the topic is polarized, specifically in the energy transition. But for a year now we plan to position the organization as a climate youth school and we believe that within our group there is openness.
Alfonso: Yes, I wouldn't say that it's so polarized, but the tendency to not allow the exchange of ideas and perspectives is very clear, especially for those people and organizations that demonstrate and question. If you question, you are a neoliberal or you are being bought by foreign interests. It seems to me that there is not enough openness on the part of political actors, but we will continue to fight for more spaces for exchange.
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