Climate Transparency: The urgent energy transition in Mexico: Identifying the necessary actions to achieve the Paris Agreement

The actions that Mexico has taken to comply with the goals of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the national and international levels have been limited and, at the same time, they are not ambitious enough to put the country on the 1.5°C pathway. In fact, by maintaining the current intensity of carbon use in the economy, Mexico will contribute to an increase in temperature between 2°C and up to 4°C by the end of this century.

In this sense, one of the sectors that presents the greatest possibility of reducing GHG emissions quickly and effectively is the energy sector. However, the progress of the energy transition in Mexico has been limited: renewable energies barely represent 5% of the energy matrix, while clean energies (large hydroelectric, nuclear, among others) accumulate a total of only 20%. Hydrocarbons still represent 80% of the generation of energy.

While the new administration prepares to design, consult, and develop the instruments, plans and policies that will guide its actions during for next 5 years (2019-2024), the decarbonization of the economy and national life must become the basis for the design of energy and climate change policies. This will require, among other things, ensuring an accelerated participation of renewable energies, together with a series of policies and instruments promoted by the state to ensure a reduction in energy poverty; an increase in the decentralized and distributed participation of energy; enhance potential co-benefits; and reduce the possible negative social and environmental impacts of the energy transition.

The objective of the event is to identify the challenges and opportunities to accelerate the energy transition in Mexico in the face of the growing urgency to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5 ° C, based on the provisions of the Paris Agreement.

At the event, a series of policy papers on how to accelerate the energy transition in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico will be presented and discussed. The paper series consists of three papers focusing on each of the three countries as well as a joint synthesis paper which gives an overview of how Argentina, Brazil and Mexico are addressing climate change through the energy sector.

The papers are authored by the Center for Integrated Studies on Climate Change (Centro Clima) – Brazil, the Foundation for the Environment and Natural Resources (FARN) – Argentina; and the Iniciátiva Climática de México (ICM), three partners of Climate Transaprency.

The HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA Governance Platform serves as the international secretariat of Climate Transparency, in collaboration with Germanwatch e.V.

For more information in Climate Transparency, please visit: climate-transparency.org

For more information on the event, please visit: http://www.iniciativaclimatica.org/, or contact swegner∂governance-platform.org

This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.