By 2025, part of the budget allocated to actions for mitigation and adaptation to climate change is being allocated to projects that are not related to this objective, according to a review by the Mexican Center for Environmental Law A.C. (CEMDA).
An example of this is the more than 827 million pesos for the provision of public services for mass transportation of people and cargo on the Mayan Train, which will be exercised by the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), and the more than 34 billion for the transportation of natural gas, which will be occupied by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).
“There are few resources allocated for the environmental sector (this year), but they should be aimed at combating climate change and not at works that really are like makeup. They get into this area by saying that natural gas is an environmentally friendly issue when it isn't, it's a fossil gas with components such as methane,” said Margarita Campuzano, director of communication at CEMDA.
In addition, there are other allocations that are not directly related to the fight against climate change, such as more than 40 billion for provisions for the development of passenger and cargo trains, to be used by the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation; 39 thousand 999 million for construction and infrastructure under the responsibility of the Sedena; 921 million pesos for economic hydrocarbon infrastructure projects for Mexican Petroleum (Pemex); and more than 6 million in the energy policy in hydrocarbons of the Ministry of Energy .
The priorities
For 2025, the budget allocated to the environment and natural resources is 44,370 million pesos. This represents a cut of 36.8% compared to the 70,245 million pesos in the budget allocated in 2024, according to a revision of this year's draft Expenditure Budget of the Federation.
“With this strong cut, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnart) is ranked as the fifth branch of the branches with the most cuts in its budget. It is equivalent to 0.5% of the total budget,” explained Mireya Mondragon, a public finance researcher at the organization Ethos Innovation in Public Policies.
The secretariats of Health, National Defense, Security and Public Protection and the National Hydrocarbons Commission are also branches that have a cut of at least one third, according to an economic analysis of the budget, published by Ethos.
The budget cut is not synonymous with a low budget when you compare allocations from one category to another in Federal Expenditures. An example is branch 7 of National Defense, which, despite a decrease of 43.8% this year, receives 151 thousand 994 million pesos. This is 3.4 times more than the budget of sector 16 of environment and natural resources. Even twice as much as the 12th branch of health, to which 66,693 million pesos were allocated by 2025.
“In the previous six-year period, there was a lot of spending, mainly on social programs and a little more on infrastructure projects. There has been too much talk about the Mayan Train, the refineries, and the overexercise of spending, because many of these programs and projects carry out more than they had planned, together with revenues that, although growing, are not keeping up with expenses,” Mondragon explained.
According to the researcher, these investments have led to a public debt that favors budgetary reduction and which this year accounts for 15.4% of the total budget. Positioning itself as one of the main items for spending.
Beyond debt, there are also sectors that are leading the budget distribution this year. The Ministry of Welfare stands out, mainly, to which more than 579,883 million pesos were projected, which encompasses social programs such as the Pension for the Welfare of Older Adults, Sowing Life, the Women's Welfare Pension and the Support Program for the Welfare of Children and Children, Children of Working Mothers.
The pension program for older adults alone exceeds 45 billion pesos. A little more than the 44 billion allocated to the entire environmental sector.
“(Social programs) are important sectors for the population because they are related to social development, however, if we compare them with other sectors that do not necessarily contribute in this way, we see that the gap is enormous, such as Petrleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) whose combined resources amount to 1.2 trillion pesos. 12.9% of the total budget,” said Mondragon.
What, for the researcher, she also interprets as “the government's real priorities” as it continues to focus on the energy sector.
Without a sufficient environmental budget, impacts are expected on tasks related to environmental care, water management, management of Protected Natural Areas (ANP), the administration of justice for environmental crimes, and other actions.
Since last November, with the announcement of the cuts to the environmental budget, the current head of Semarnat, Alicia Bárcena, has told the media that she will see a way to compensate for the loss.
As part of the alternatives, the communication director of CEMDA points out that there are ways to obtain resources such as payment schemes for services in the ANP; collaborative work with communities that live in these areas and carry out productive activities; as well as private investment models.
“There are always other issues that are not relevant, such as safety, the countryside or health, but there is a tendency to believe that the environment refers to landscape issues and it is not understood that it is a cross-cutting issue without which none of the other productive, social, or even political activities can take place,” Campuzano concluded.
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