MEXICO CITY (HPD) — John Kerry, the United States’ special envoy for climate, called on Mexico on Friday to undertake additional efforts to meet commitments to curb climate change.
Following a meeting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the northern city of Hermosillo, Kerry told a news conference that additional efforts must be made to fulfill commitments made last year at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow and the obligations of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The special envoy of the US government praised the plans that Mexico is advancing in terms of climate change and maintained that the country is making decisions that will benefit everyone.
For his part, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard affirmed that the meeting had “very positive” results and acknowledged that “once again we have a common vision of Mexico, the United States and Canada.”
Ebrard pointed out that during the meeting the advances of the methane gas capture program carried out by the state company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) were presented, as well as the development of the Puerto Peñasco solar plant and the advances for the exploitation of lithium in the northern state of Sonora.
Mexico will take to the next UN climate conference, better known as COP27 and to be held in November in Egypt, the energy development project called “Plan Sonora”, he pointed out.
The US State Department said this week that the meeting would address opportunities to support Mexico’s contributions to the environment, the promotion of zero-emission vehicles, the reduction of methane emissions and investments in renewable energy.
The Secretary of Energy, Rocío Nahle, indicated that during the meeting the claims that Washington made in July to Mexican energy policies in the framework of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada, the T-MEC, would not be addressed.
In the last twelve months, Kerry has visited Mexico five times.
López Obrador has declared himself an ally of the plan promoted by his American counterpart, Joe Biden, to deal with climate change, but analysts and opponents maintain that the Mexican government’s energy policies have not contributed to favoring renewable energies.
Mexico promised that, by 2024, at least 35% of the energy it consumes will come from clean and renewable sources. In addition, the country hopes to produce 50% of vehicles with zero polluting emissions by 2030.