The number of visitors who stay more than one night at destinations in the country's interior (like Guanajuato, pictured) has also gone up. Foto de Dan Torres en Unsplash
September was a good month for tourism in Mexico, according to new data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) — but it wasn’t quite as good as September 2019, a few months before the COVID pandemic was declared.
In September of this year, Mexico received 2.77 million international tourists, which was a 12.9% increase compared to the same month in 2021, according to INEGI’s International Traveler Survey. However, that number was 8.8 percent lower than the arrivals for September 2019, back when masks were something worn primarily for Halloween and costume parties.
Moreover, the number for September 2022 was a few ticks lower than the 3.1 million international tourists who visited during August 2022, when summer vacationing with the kids was still in high gear.
The survey noted that while many foreign visitors are day-trippers to border towns or cruise ship passengers, there were 1.63 million tourists in September 2022 who stayed over at least one night in the interior of Mexico — a 27.1% increase over September 2019.
Of course, tourists spend money: a total of US $1.8 billion in September 2022, which was better than the US $1.5 billion spent in September 2021 and the US $600 million spent in September 2020, according to INEGI.
The survey also presented average expenditures by each tourist who arrived by air: US $1,057 in September 2022, compared to US $1,123 in September 2021 and US $957 in September 2020.
Overall, for the first nine months of 2022, it was reported that 27.5 million international tourists entered the country, an increase of 22.4% over the same period in 2021 — but still not as many as the 32.8 million for the same period in 2019.
The cumulative January-through-September spending figures for 2022 were US $19.3 billion, which beat last year’s total by 56% and even surpassed the US $16.9 billion spent during the same period of 2019, according to INEGI data, although higher 2022 prices due to inflation have had an impact.
The central bank's headquarters in Mexico City. Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
As expected, the Bank of México (Banxico) lifted its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to a new record high of 10% on Thursday.
Four of five Banxico board members supported a fourth consecutive 0.75 percentage point hike, while Deputy Governor Gerardo Esquivel voted in favor of a more modest 0.5% increase.
The decision came a day after the national statistics agency INEGI reported that annual headline inflation eased slightly to 8.41% in October, but core inflation rose to a 22-year-high of 8.42%.
Banxico said in a statement that “accumulated pressures associated with both the pandemic and the military conflict [in Ukraine] have continued to affect headline and core inflation.”
It said that the central bank board “evaluated the magnitude and diversity of the shocks that have affected inflation” and “considered the increasing challenges for monetary policy stemming from the ongoing tightening of global financial conditions [and] the environment of significant uncertainty,” among other factors.
“… Based on these considerations, the board decided by majority to raise the target for the overnight interbank interest rate by 75 basis points to 10.00%. With this action, the monetary policy stance adjusts to the trajectory required for inflation to converge to its 3% target within the forecast horizon,” Banxico said.
“The board will thoroughly monitor inflationary pressures as well as all factors that have an incidence on the foreseen path for inflation and its expectations … with the objective of setting a policy rate that is consistent at all times,” with two goals, the national bank said: making steady, timely progress toward a headline inflation target of 3% while taking into account the impact on the economy and financial markets.
The Bank of México has now raised its key rate by 6 percentage points since June 2021, when the current tightening cycle began. Each of its four 75 basis point hikes followed increases of the same size by the United States Federal Reserve.
Citigroup is currently accepting bids for its Mexican arm Citibanamex. Moisés Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro
Citigroup said on Tuesday that it would purchase Deutsche Bank’s Mexican banking license to maintain its corporate investment and private banking presence in the country following the planned sale of its local retail unit, Citibanamex.
“The acquisition of this license, subject to all the corresponding regulatory approvals, facilitates our exit from consumer banking and the ability to continue with our institutional operations in Mexico,” Citi said in a statement to the Reuters news agency over email.
Citi Chief Executive Jane Fraser announced early in 2022 that the financial group would retreat from consumer, small-business, and middle-market banking in Mexico. However, Fraser also said that it would keep its Mexican investment bank and private banking in order to cater to institutional clients in the country, because “Mexico is a priority market for Citi.”
This is all part of Fraser’s efforts to sell some international operations and simplify the firm, she said. The current deal with Deutsche Bank would make it easier for Citigroup to continue offering services to large corporations and wealthy clients after the sale.
Carlos Slim’s company Grupo Financiero Inbursa is one of the main bidders to buy Citibanamex. He’s competing against fellow Mexican magnate Germán Larrea’s Grupo México. Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro
Although no financial details were given about the agreement, a buyer is expected to be named by the end of 2022 or beginning of 2023.
Among the main bidders to buy Citibanamex, are Grupo Financiero Inbursa, owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, and mining Mexican titan Germán Larrea, the main owner of the copper mining concern, Grupo México. Both are the front-runners to buy the local retail arm of the group valued at between US $7 billion and US $12 billion.
However, the small local firm Grupo Financiero Mifel, backed by Advent International, is leading a group of investors who will also present an offer, Mifel said in a statement.
Citigroup is asking bidders to submit final binding bids for the next round, which should mark the end of the auction process, according to the newspaper El Financiero, which said another round is unlikely.
This week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in his morning press conference that he expects the deal to be closed before the year ends.
Jordan Marshall, Kandace Florence and Courtez Hall. Courtesy photos from the families
Three United States citizens who were found dead in a Mexico City apartment late last month are believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning, although one of the victims reportedly told her boyfriend that she felt “drugged” after drinking at a bar the night before she passed away.
Two men and one woman were found Oct. 30 in an apartment they rented through Airbnb in the western borough of Cuajimalpa. Jordan Marshall, Courtez Hall and Kandace Florence traveled to Mexico City to celebrate the Day of the Dead holiday, according to media reports.
The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office said that studies indicated that the three friends died of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning at an apartment in the La Rosita neighborhood, located near the Santa Fe business district.
Police said they found the bodies after security guards reported a strong smell of gas emanating from the apartment where the three Americans were staying. That suggests that carbon monoxide wasn’t the only gas that leaked as CO is odorless.
Leaky gas water heaters and stoves can emit carbon monoxide, which can cause headaches, dizziness, confusion and death if inhaled.
Airbnb told the news agency Bloomberg that the deaths were a “terrible tragedy” and that it was ready to assist authorities with their investigations. Marshall and Florence were in their late 20s while Hall was in his early 30s. The two men were reportedly teachers in New Orleans, while Florence was an entrepreneur in Virginia who had just started a candle business.
According to an El País newspaper report, Florence sent messages to her boyfriend in the early morning of Oct. 30 and told him that she felt “drugged.”
The newspaper spoke with Victor Day, who said that his girlfriend told him at about 3 a.m. on Oct. 30 that she felt extremely tired and had vomited. “She told me she felt drugged before she went back to the apartment,” Day told El País.
He saw on his girlfriend’s Instagram stories that she, Marshall and Hall had been drinking wine on an outdoor terrace in the capital. Criminals in Mexico City are known to slip drugs into people’s drinks in order to facilitate subsequent crimes, including sexual assaults, that they intend to commit. However, there was no indication that the three Americans were victims of any crime while out on the night of Oct. 29, or that the two men felt unwell after leaving the bar.
In messages sent to Day, Florence said she felt like she had taken ecstasy, as the drug MDMA is commonly known. “Where’s Jordan? Are you home or are you still out,” Day inquired. “I just got here. I’m literally in pain and pacing around the apartment. I’m shaking,” Florence responded.
The couple subsequently spoke on a video call and Day said he heard his girlfriend vomiting and retching. “She was visibly suffering,” he told El País.
“I tried to call her again [later], but I didn’t get through. I told myself that maybe it was nothing; that she would throw up whatever they gave her, sleep, we would talk again in the morning, and she would tell me what happened. Unfortunately, that was the last time I spoke to her,” Day said.
El País reported that the victims’ relatives don’t know what bar the three tourists visited on the night of Oct. 29. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City told the newspaper that it was monitoring the case and providing consular assistance to the victims’ families.
Day made it clear that he didn’t agree with the conclusion that the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. He said the apartment where the three friends stayed was advertised as having carbon monoxide sensors and questioned why they weren’t activated if gas was leaking.
“If gas was the cause, how is it possible that the sensors didn’t go off to alert them? How is it possible that the security guards who found them were not poisoned as well? And how could Kandace tell me that she felt drugged long before she returned home?” Day asked.
Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro appeared before the Senate on Tuesday. Twitter @SE_mx
According to the Economy Ministry, hundreds of companies are interested in relocating to Mexico owing to the country’s geographical proximity to the United States and to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
“More than 400 North American companies have the intention to carry out a relocation process from Asia to Mexico,” Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro said at an appearance before the Senate on Tuesday.
She said that the interest in relocating to Mexico stems from the importance of the treaty, which has “strengthened the relationship with the U.S. and Canada.” However, she added that an agreement to resolve the energy dispute under the USMCA must be secured to move forward with the investments.
In July, the U.S. requested dispute settlement consultations with Mexico under the USMCA over a series of changes in Mexico’s energy policies. Although the U.S. hasn’t called a dispute panel to rule on the subject, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico said in October that the possibility has not been ruled out.
The automotive manufacturers are one of the main industries taking advantage of nearshoring opportunities. Gobierno de Guanajuato
According to Credit Suisse, if the U.S. was to call a dispute panel to rule on the energy policy dispute, the sanctions resulting from such a decision could interfere with the nearshoring plans of the 400 companies interested in relocating.
Nearshoring has become an important driver of foreign investment in the country. According to the latest study conducted by Credit Suisse, in October alone, Mexico registered an investment of US $2.05 billion from this activity.
So far this year, nearshoring has drawn a total of US $17.2 billion — 25.5% more than the figure reported in the same period of 2021. Most of the investment income has been fueled by companies in the automotive industry such as Volkswagen, Continental, Pirelli, and Michelin.
This is in line with a recent study led by the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) which noted that a growing number of companies are finding a solution in Mexico to the trade conflict between China and the U.S., which is forcing them to move their production and supply chains closer to home.
Recognizing the importance of nearshoring for Mexico, Buenrostro stressed on Tuesday that neither Mexico, the U.S. or Canada want confrontations over the USMCA consultations, “… and least of all now that we are going through a global crisis and when relocation is so important,” she said. She added that Mexico’s geographical location as well as the country’s size and market features, have resulted in Mexico being the U.S.’ largest trade partner.
Members of the group Grupo Plural Reforma hold the slogan that has been circulating among protesters online, saying, "The INE shall not be touched."
Demonstrations will occur throughout Mexico on Sunday to protest the federal government’s controversial electoral reform bill.
The protests, organized by civil society and political organizations, are currently scheduled in 25 Mexican cities as well as at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles.
The electoral reform seeks to dissolve the National Electoral Institute (INE) and create a new electoral authority, as well as cut funding and replace the 11 INE members, who are chosen by political consensus, with seven directly elected delegates.
This is part of a broader set of proposed changes to the electoral system, including funding cuts for political parties and the elimination of proportional representation seats in Congress.
President Lopez Obrador has accused the rallies’ organizers of opposed to his government, but he also urged Morena members not to provoke protesters.
The protesters have outlined four primary demands:
a rejection of the electoral reform
a rejection of changes to any secondary laws negatively impacting the INE’s duties
a refusal to cut the electoral body’s budget
maintenance of the constitutionally established method of electing the INE’s members.
President López Obrador stated during his regular press briefing today that the protesters have a right to mobilize, claiming that he will clear Mexico City’s zócalo to make space for the demonstration. In another press briefing, he characterized the mobilization as a protest against his government.
“The people should know that it is a demonstration against us because we are carrying out a policy in favor of the people. [The opposition parties] are classist, racist and undemocratic. They are the ones who participated in electoral fraud and would like to continue having control over the INE,” he said.
The protest’s organizers denied the president’s statements.
“We are calling for a peaceful march, and exclusively in defense of the INE. We are not protesting against anyone,” said organizer Amado Avendaño
While a recent poll conducted by the INE showed that 93% of its 400 respondents support the electoral reform, another conducted by the newspaper Reforma demonstrated that citizens were largely in favor of the electoral authority, with an approval rating of 73%.
Opposition politicians and others have noted that the INE is essential to maintaining Mexico’s young democracy, which emerged just over two decades ago when 70 years of one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ended.
The opposition has also maintained that dissolving or weakening the INE is non-negotiable. Because the ruling party Morena only holds a simple congressional majority, it needs opposition support to gain the two-thirds vote required for constitutional changes, a situation that provides checks and balances.
“Mexico needs us to unite in this important battle,” Moreno said.
This is the first time that a sitting Mexican president has initiated such sweeping electoral changes before a major election. The country will hold its largest election ever in 2024. Some have contended that the proposed changes against the electoral body could help the president challenge the election results if his party were to lose.
Sunday’s protests are expected to remain peaceful, with organizers already in communication with public security officials. The president also asked members of his Morena party not to provoke demonstrators.
Few women in Mexico end up in “better-paid decision-making positions” during their working lives, the think tank the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness said. Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro
Women in Mexico earn 14% less than men on average, and over two-thirds of working women receive salaries equivalent to less than double the minimum wage of 173 pesos (US $8.80) per day, a new study has found.
Completed by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), the study measured the gender pay gap in Mexico and nine other countries. The data for Mexico comes from INEGI, the national statistics institute.
While the pay gap in Mexico was the second lowest among 10 countries including the United States, Chile, the United Kingdom and Japan, the think tank said that doesn’t mean there is “greater equity” in the Mexican labor market.
The gender pay gap in Mexico is lower than that in Iceland and the U.K, IMCO said, but the 14% figure doesn’t acknowledge the fact that “very few women” enter the “remunerated economy” in Mexico. Among those who do, 70% earn less than two minimum salaries, IMCO said, meaning that most women earn less than US $18 per day.
IMCO’s director Valeria Moy acknowledged that the gender pay gap has declined from 20% in 2005 but said progress has been “very slow.” Twitter
Few women progress to “better-paid decision-making positions” during their working lives, the think tank said.
At the presentation of the study on Tuesday in Mexico City, IMCO director Valeria Moy acknowledged that the gender pay gap has declined from 20% in 2005, but said that the progress achieved has been “very slow.”
“If women want to have the same average yearly income as men, they would have to work 51 additional days,” she said.
Laura Tamayo, an official with the Business Coordinating Council – a private-sector organization that supported the IMCO study – said that the gender pay gap is another expression of the sexism that exists in Mexico and other countries around the world.
Among Mexico’s 32 federal entities, IMCO found that Oaxaca has the largest gender pay gap, followed by Colima and Hidalgo. Women in those states earn on average salaries that are about three-quarters the size of those received by men.
The only state where women earn more than men on average is Chiapas. IMCO found that women in the southern state, one of Mexico’s poorest, earn 10.2% more than men. One reason for that situation, the think tank said, is that large numbers of men in Chiapas work in low paid agricultural and construction jobs.
Across Mexico, women face a “series of barriers” to enter and remain in the workforce and to advance in their careers, IMCO said.
“Among them: a greater nonremunerated work burden, … which translates into shorter [paid] working days … [and] prevailing gender stereotypes that cause a greater concentration of female or male labor in certain sectors and occupations,” it said.
Among 10 countries IMCO researched, Mexico had the second lowest wage gap, doing better than Iceland, the U.K., and the U.S. IMCO
Occupational segregation “reduces average incomes for women in comparison with men,” IMCO said.
The sector with the largest gender pay gap in Mexico is the media, with women earning 33% less than men on average. Women earn 27% less than men in the nongovernment services sector, 26% less in retail, 24% less in manufacturing and 24% less in the accommodation and restaurant sector, IMCO said.
However, women employed in the real estate, construction and mining sectors earn more than men on average. Salaries for women are 43% higher for women in the first case, 33% higher in the second and 25% higher in the third, the study found.
Mexican women were also found to earn more than men in the electricity, water and gas sector, the agriculture industry and when working for the government or an international organization.
IMCO said that the sectors in which women earn more than men on average are characterized by having a low percentage of female employees. The comparatively small number of women who work in those sectors are employed in “better jobs” than many men who work in the same industries, the think tank said.
“For example, only 4% of people who work in construction are women, but the majority have a bachelor’s degree and enter administrative positions in which they earn higher average incomes than men,” IMCO said.
Fátima Masse, an IMCO official who led the study, said there is no “magical solution” to end the gender pay gap, but to help close that which exists across most sectors of the Mexican economy, the think tank proposed five measures, including working to combat gender-based occupational segregation so that more women enter sectors and jobs in which they will receive better remuneration.
IMCO also found that Mexican women who work in traditionally male-dominated industries are often in better jobs with better pay than male counterparts. Modern Machine Shop/Mexico
IMCO also said that workplaces should undertake “self-diagnoses” to establish the reasons why women and men are paid differently, and “move toward salary transparency” – disclose how much employees earn, in other words.
In addition, employers should “eliminate practices that perpetuate income inequality” and “implement policies that promote work-life balance.”
Some of the aforesaid practices that should be eliminated, IMCO said, are asking potential employees how much they earned in previous jobs; taking people’s marital status, age and whether they have children into account when determining whether to hire them or not; and stating in a job ad that the position is for a man because it has traditionally been done by people of that gender.
Billie Eilish, Blink 182 and The Killers are the headliners at the 2023 edition of the Tecate Pa'l Norte rock music festival in Monterrey. Tickets went on sale Monday.
Corona Capital Music Festival
Mainly featuring rock and alternative music, the Corona Capital 2022 will take place over the weekend of Nov. 18, 19 and 20 at the Hermanos Rodríguez Autodrome in Mexico City with 80 artists taking the stage.
The music festival is set to have one of its largest editions since it debuted in 2010 with more than 85 bands and international artists. Among those on the bill this year are Miley Cyrus, Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, Run the Jewels, Kim Gordon, Liam Gallagher, Andrew Bird and Paramore.
A shuttle service called Ticket2Ride has been put in place for attendees to have a safe ride home. The routes announced are the following: Hipódromo de las Américas, Mundo E, Interlomas, Galerías Coapa, Santa Fe, Perisur, Condesa, Plaza lindavista and Plaza Universidad.
Emo alt rock band My Chemical Romance will be among 80 acts taking the stage in Mexico City for the Corona Capital music festival, taking place Nov. 18–20. Corona Capital
The 11th edition of the Los Cabos International Film Festival starts today and will run until Nov. 13. The Whale, a film based on the acclaimed play by Samuel D. Hunter and featuring actor Brendan Fraser, will be the opening night movie.
The film festival praises itself as the only event in the American continent promoting dialogue and cultural encounters between the film industries of Mexico, the U.S., and Canada.
The critically acclaimed Brendan Fraser vehicle, “The Whale,” is opening the Los Cabos International Film Festival on Nov. 9 at the Cinemex Puerto Paraíso. Los Cabos Film Festival
The 2022 edition will be the first in-person gathering since the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing together professionals from the North American film community.
León International Balloon Festival
Starting on Nov. 18, the Festival Internacional del Globo (FIG), will run for four days at the Metropolitan Park of León, Guanajuato; a protected natural area with 362 hectares of green space.
The FIG is currently the biggest and most important rally in Latin America and the third most renowned in the world. It will feature 200 hot air balloons and pilots from 16 different countries to be looked at from the ground from 400,000 spectators.
The León International Balloon Festival is the biggest and most important rally of its kind in Latin America. FIG
An anticipated event withing the festival is the Noche Mágica or Magical Night, set to happen every night while the balloons are grounded to earth. Concerts, culinary experiences, and expositions will take place amidst the lighted torches of balloons, creating a magical scenery.
Since its first edition in 1998, the Festival Eurojazz is the largest jazz festival in Latin America dedicated exclusively to European jazz. It is set to take the stage at the National Art Centre (Cenart) in Mexico City, every Saturday and Sunday until Nov. 20.
Ireland’s Louise Phelan Quintet is just one of dozens of acts from Europe who’ll perform as part of Eurojazz 2022, taking place at the National Art Centre in Mexico City.
Groups from Austria, Italy, Romania, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, Germany and Mexico, will perform. All concerts will be live streamed on the Cenart website.
To date, a total of 209 groups from 21 of the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) have joined, as well as from neighboring nations such as Norway and Switzerland.
Tecate Pa’l Norte
As it happens every year since 2012, the Tecate Pa’lNorte festival music will take place at the Parque Fundidora in Monterrey, Nuevo León, and will be the first edition to happen over three days: March 31 and April 1 and 2.
The lineup for the 2023 edition was announced on Nov. 3 and features 130 national and international artists among which are included Blink-182, The Killers, Billie Ellish, Café Tacvba, Julieta Venegas, Carla Morrison, Ximena Sariñana and DJ Steve Aoki.
The ticket sale began on Monday and are still available to buy here.
The Bank of Mexico is widely expected to lift its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points at it's meeting on Thursday. File photo
Inflation eased in October compared to the previous month but remains well above the rate targeted by the Bank of México (Banxico), which is widely expect to lift its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points on Thursday.
The national statistics agency INEGI reported Wednesday that the annual inflation rate was 8.41% in October, down from 8.7% in September. The October figure was slightly lower than the average 8.46% expectation of economists polled by the news agency Reuters.
Consumer prices were 0.57% higher last month than in September, INEGI said. The annual core inflation rate, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, reached a 22-year-high of 8.42% in October, up from 8.28% in September.
Data indicates that headline inflation – which was also 8.7% in August – may have peaked, but core inflation remains, for now, on an upward trajectory.
The pink line represents a year’s trajectory of Mexico’s inflation rate by month. The green line represents the same period for core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices. Sistema de Información Económica
“Core inflation remains stubbornly sticky,” said Andrés Abadía, chief Latin America economist at economic research consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics. “This, and still-rising [core] inflation expectations will push Banxico to hike … the main rate by 75 basis points.”
The central bank, which targets inflation of 3% with tolerance of 1% in both directions, has lifted its key rate by 0.75% after its three most recent monetary policy meetings, following the lead of the United States Federal Reserve on each occasion. Another hike of the same size on Thursday – the Fed hiked rates 0.75% last week – will lift the benchmark interest rate to 10%. The current 9.25% rate is already the highest since the central bank introduced a new monetary policy regime in 2008.
Data published by INEGI on Wednesday showed that fruit and vegetables were 12.63% more expensive in October than a year earlier, meat prices were up 15.61%, non-food goods cost 8.03% more, services were 5.3% dearer, energy (including) electricity was 3.77% more costly and housing expenses rose 3.14%.
Mexico's latest commitment to improve its emissions target to 30% comes while it is also spearheading polluting projects like Pemex's Olmeca oil refinery in Tabasco to promote energy independence. Cuartoscuro
Mexico will increase its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets at the United Nations Climate Change Conference currently underway in Egypt, the federal Environment Ministry (Semarnat) said Tuesday.
Semarnat said in a statement that Mexico – Latin America’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter after Brazil – would commit to reducing its emissions by 30% by 2030 “with its own resources.”
The country’s current national determined contribution goal, unchanged since 2016, is to cut emissions by 22% by the final year of this decade.
Semarnat also said that Mexico would lift its conditional emission reduction target to 40% from 36%. Meeting that goal is dependent on external support.
Environment Minister María Luisa Albores González said that the ministry has come up with more than 40 measures to cut Mexico’s emissions. María Luisa González/Twitter
Environment Minister María Luisa Albores González outlined the new commitments Mexico is set to make in a message broadcast online on Tuesday. She said that the Environment Ministry has identified more than 40 measures across all economic sectors to cut emissions.
According to the Semarnat statement, they include “solutions based in nature” including the planting of trees and the creation of more natural protected areas, increasing the use of zero-emissions vehicles, promoting rail transport and remote working and increasing regulation of industry.
The measures – which were also presented during a meeting between President López Obrador and U.S. climate envoy John Kerry in late October – will allow “an estimated total annual reduction” of 88.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030, Semarnat said.
The ministry said that Agustín Ávila Romero, head of the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change, and Miguel Ángel Zerón, chief of Semarnat’s International Affairs Unit, will attend the U.N. climate conference in Egypt, commonly referred to as COP27.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry met with President López Obrador in Hermosillo, Sonora, on October 28 ahead of the UN Climate Change conference, which opened in Egypt on November 6. SRE
The Institute of the Americas, an independent, inter-American organization that promotes public-private cooperation across the Americas, noted in a report late last year that Mexico would need to implement additional policies to meet its 2030 target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 22%.
“Mexico’s rollback of support to renewable energy and its response to the pandemic has put the country’s emissions on an upward path. … Emissions will ramp up again as the economy recovers,” the institute said, noting also that Mexico’s was the world’s 12th largest greenhouse gas emitter.
“… The government is now favoring fossil fuels with the construction of a new refinery; a new budget allocation for the modernization of coal, diesel, gas and oil-fueled power plants; and the cancellation of long-term power auctions,” it said.
“Lastly, a recent energy bill effectively halting private renewable energy investments prioritizes the government’s own aging fossil-fuel plants. This reform could force changes in the electricity dispatch order that would significantly increase CO2 emissions.”
The Environment Ministry says Mexico will commit to reducing emissions by 30% with strategies such as tree-planting programs and promoting rail transport, both which could be nods to existing projects like the reforestation program Sembrando Vida and the planned Maya Train. Sembrando Vida/Twitter
At an energy and climate forum hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden earlier this year, López Obrador – an energy nationalist and fossil fuel champion – presented 10 “actions” Mexico is “implementing in the fight against climate change.”
Among the actions he cited were the modernization of 16 hydroelectric plants; Pemex’s investment of US $2 billion to reduce its methane gas emissions by up to 98%; the construction of a 1,000-megawatt solar farm in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora; and the planting of fruit and timber-yielding trees on 1 million hectares of land by means of the Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) employment/reforestation program.
But Mexico – which was criticized by the Climate Action Network at COP26 in Scotland last year “for pumping more, not less, money into the fossil fuel industry” – is still not seriously committed to tackling climate change, according to some experts.
“It’s highly likely that the Mexican government will try to deceive the entire world at COP27 with false actions and projects that will never be built,” Carlos Flores, a renewable energy expert, told the newspaper The Guardian. “We are not going to meet our current pledges, never mind anything more ambitious,” he said.
“There is no way to look positively at the climate action of an administration that has been focused on undermining renewable energy. In order for Mexico to meet its Paris objectives, we will need a new president in 2024 who can regain the trust of investors and has a real commitment to the environment,” Flores added.
Adrián Fernández, executive director of the activist organization Iniciativa Climática de México (Mexico Climate Initiative), said that energy policy that helps rather than hinders the renewable sector is needed to enable Mexico to achieve its climate commitments.
