Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds

• 🎂 Birthday mañanera: Reporters serenaded the president with “Las Mañanitas” as she turned 64 on Wednesday. Two large cakes appeared at the close of the press conference to the sound of the Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four.” Sheinbaum said she’d be celebrating with pozole — one of her favorite dishes — at a birthday lunch with her husband.
• 🌀 Renewable energy push: Energy Minister Luz Elena González presented the government’s plan to add 32,475 megawatts of generation capacity to the national grid by 2030, with roughly 22,000 megawatts — around 70% — coming from renewable sources, predominantly solar (55%) and wind (30%). Total investment across CFE, joint ventures and private projects is projected at 739 billion pesos (US $41.9 billion). The government’s revised target is at least 38% of electricity from renewables by 2030.
• ☀️ Biggest solar farm in the Americas: CFE head Emilia Calleja highlighted the Rafael Galván Maldonado Solar Farm in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, which upon completion of its four stages will reach 1,000 megawatts, making it the largest solar installation in the hemisphere.
• 📉 Two pieces of good economic news: Sheinbaum flagged that annual headline inflation fell to 3.55% in the first half of June, down from 3.94% in May, with tomato prices dropping nearly 24% compared to the second half of last month. She also cited INEGI data showing the Mexican economy grew 2.2% year-on-year in April despite U.S. tariffs and global uncertainty.
• ⚽ Vamos, El Tri: Sheinbaum wished the Mexican men’s national team luck ahead of their final World Cup group match against Czechia in Mexico City Wednesday night, polling reporters on scoreline predictions before declaring Mexico would win. The team has already secured a place in the knockout stage.

Why today’s mañanera matters

Reporters sang “Las Mañanitas” to President Claudia Sheinbaum at the start of her Wednesday morning press conference as she turns 64 today.

“For ‘Las Mañanitas’ there will be cake,” Sheinbaum said, and indeed two large cakes appeared in the Treasury Hall of the National Palace at the end of the mañanera as the Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four” played.

During her press conference, the president revealed she would eat pozole at her birthday lunch with her husband. Sheinbaum said that the iconic Mexican dish is one of her favorite foods.

The president’s birthday aside, a key focus at today’s press conference was the government’s renewable energy plan. Six months after announcing that private companies would invest US $4.75 billion to build 20 renewable energy projects across 11 Mexican states, Energy Minister Luz Elena González spoke about the government’s specific renewable energy goals during its six-year term, which will conclude in 2030.

Sheinbaum, a climate scientist who in 2024 was included on Time’s list of the “100 most influential climate leaders,” is an ardent advocate of renewable energy (unlike her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador), but is also in favor of Mexico taking advantage of its fossil fuel resources, and has recently become a proponent of “sustainable fracking.”

At today’s mañanera, the president was firmly wearing her environmentalist, climate scientist hat, largely leaving her views on “sustainable fracking” — which the government appears likely to approve soon — for another day.

Also of note at today’s press conference was Sheinbaum’s acknowledgement of two positive pieces of economic news.

‘Renewable energy to strengthen sovereignty’

Sheinbaum announced early in her mañanera that Energy Minister González and the head of the Federal Electricity Commission Emilia Esther Calleja would present information about the government’s renewable energy plan.

She said that solar, wind and geothermal energy are all “available” in Mexico and can “guarantee sovereignty.”

“We don’t need to import [energy] because we’re going to use the sun, the wind, geothermal energy, biomass [energy],” Sheinbaum said.

She noted that another “virtue” of renewable energy is that it is “clean.”

Renewable energy sources “don’t emit greenhouse gases,” Sheinbaum said, adding that the cost of renewable projects has “significantly” declined.

“For us they are indispensable to change what is called the energy matrix,” she said.

González delivered a presentation entitled “Renewable energy to strengthen sovereignty.”

She presented data that showed that 32,475 additional megawatts of electricity generation capacity would be added to the national grid by 2030.

New combined-cycle power plant in Baja California to lower bills and emissions

“We’re going to produce by 2030 around 32,000 additional megawatts of new energy,” González said.

“… Of these additional 32,000 megawatts, … 22,000 megawatts will be generated from renewable sources,” she said.

The exact figure she presented was 22,376 megawatts, accounting for around 70% of the additional capacity the government says will be added by 2030.

Around 55% of the new electricity generation from renewable sources will come from solar projects, while around 30% will come from wind projects, according to information González presented.

She said that the CFE, via its own projects and “mixed schemes” (i.e., joint ventures), will supply 79% of the additional electricity capacity to be added by 2030.

“An investment of 739 billion pesos [US $41.9 billion] will be made,” González said, referring to CFE projects, mixed scheme projects and private ventures.

The energy minister said that the government will reach its “goal” of generating “at least” 38% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Sheinbaum had targeted a goal of 45% of electricity generation from renewable sources by the end of her presidency.

Calleja, the CFE chief, said that the state-owned utility “will develop renewable energy projects in different regions of the country” in the coming years.

“Their location depends on the natural resources available in each of the regions,” she said.

Calleja presented a map of Mexico that showed that the CFE will undertake solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and green hydrogen projects in different parts of the country.

She spoke about various “emblematic projects,” including the Rafael Galván Maldonado Solar Farm in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.

“When we conclude the four stages of this project, we’re going to have a total capacity of 1,000 megawatts of energy. This will make it the largest solar farm in the Americas,” Calleja said.

“… In summary, and this is the most important thing, the CFE has a solid base of renewable generation [and] we’re increasing that capacity across the entire country and we’re doing it without losing sight of what is essential: guaranteeing sufficient, affordable and reliable electricity for all Mexican families,” she said.

Sheinbaum highlights declining inflation and growing economy

“I’m going to give you two pieces of good news about the country,” Sheinbaum told reporters.

She first highlighted that the national statistics agency INEGI reported on Wednesday that Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate declined to 3.55% in the first half of June. The annual headline rate for the month of May was 3.94%.

“They said that the price of tomatoes couldn’t go down,” Sheinbaum said. “The price of tomatoes now went down.”

Indeed, INEGI reported that tomatoes were 23.98% cheaper in the first half of June than in the second half of May.

Sheinbaum also presented a newspaper article by El Financiero with the headline “The Mexican economy gained momentum in April.”

INEGI reported on Tuesday that the Mexican economy grew 2.2% in annual terms in April and 1.2% compared to the previous month.

Sheinbaum said that the economic growth result was the best for the month of April “in many years.”

The Mexican economy is growing despite a range of “difficulties,” including U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports and the war in Iran, she said.

Sheinbaum wishes El Tri good luck ahead of its final World Cup group match

Sheinbaum wished the Mexican men’s football team good luck ahead of its final World Cup group match against Czechia in Mexico City on Wednesday night.

She declined to offer a specific prediction on the result, but asked reporters their opinion.

“1-0 [to Mexico], raise your hands. 2-0?  … 3-0? 2-1?,” Sheinbaum asked.

Without predicting a scoreline, the president declared that Mexico will win. The Mexican team, commonly known as El Tri, has already qualified for the knockout stage of the World Cup thanks to its 2-0 victory over South Africa on June 11 and its 1-0 win over South Korea last Thursday night.