Youth-led environmentalists demand an energy transformation to save Mexico

Pictures and videos will be available here 06/10/21, 22:00 (GMT-5): https://www.flickr.com/photos/194092729@N02/ Youth-led, environmentalist organizations and communities are mobilizing against PEMEX and the tendency to expand fossil fuel dependency and climate inaction in Mexico.

Demanding action to tackle the climate crisis, activists in the states of Tabasco, Nuevo Leon, Mexico City, Jalisco and Baja California Sur, organized a series of actions to denounce PEMEX (the state-owned oil company) and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador energy plans that have systematically favored fossil fuel extraction and expansion. This Wednesday, October 6th, actions will be held in 5 cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, La Paz, and Paraíso, articulated under the banner: #PemexNoTeAma [Pemex does not love you], a message that looks to break the love and pride image of Mexican people with the number one GHG emitter in their country.

Mr. Obrador has repeatedly dismissed the climate crisis, he has instead reactivated the coal industry in the state of Coahulia, increased the use of fuel oil for energy generation, and advocated for more oil and gas production in order to reduce foreing dependence.

The government has taken a blatant and relentless stance to strengthen the role of PEMEX and the state-owned electricity company CFE. This is supported by Mr. Obrador’s landmark megadevelopment projects, led by an oil refinery that will process 340,000 barrels of oil per day, but also includes two regional trains and an international airport which are set to deepen Mexico’s dependence on fossil fuels for decades to come.

The actions happened in the wake of Mr. Lopez Obrador’s new constitutional energy reform proposal, which was sent to Congress on October 1st. The initiative would effectively place CFE as the only electricity provider.

“This is just the latest in a series of actions that the government had taken to distract us from the necessary and urgent action needed”, said Montserrat Ledezma, from the organization Ecolectiva.

“As we approach the first half of his presidency, the president has yet to produce a comprehensive plan to democratize or expand the use of renewable energy” Pablo Montaño, from the same organization, added.

“We are not advocating a return to the previous legal framework the president is trying to rebuke”, said Pablo Ramírez from Greenpeace Mexico, “nor are we defending the companies that claim to advocate for a transition without democratizing the energy sector, or previous governments that passed laws without taking human rights and democratic processes into consideration, we are demanding that the government takes urgent action to reduce our fossil fuel dependence and tackles energy poverty with bold climate action”.

México has not only fallen short in the reduction of its climate pledges before the United Nations, but it’s actively moving in the opposite direction. PEMEX is the 9th biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the world, placing more than 20 billion tonnes of Co2 in the atmosphere since 1965.

According to some estimates it is set to remain as a major contributor of oil and gas development (within the top 15) in the future unless the government is forced to take radical actions. However, even as the evidence of the catastrophic consequences of global warming becomes clearer – as the major IPCC report showed just a few months ago – the government has proposed a limited action plan, failing to scale-up ambition and conveniently turning a blind eye to oil expansion and the environmental impacts of the government mega-infrastructure projects. Instead, the government has proposed revitalizing big hydroelectric dams and planting trees in the south of Mexico.

“These plans have not received adequate climate scrutiny”, said José Miguel Olvera from the organization Nuestro Futuro AC.

“Their mitigation potential is prone to become compromised in a warming world, thus weakening the president’s argument that he can composante the emissions coming from his obsessive pursuit of economic growth and development fueled by oil with these projects”, Olvera added.

“Richer countries have a historical responsibility and therefore they must assume greater commitments to tackle the climate crisis however, this doesn’t give Mexico an easy way out of taking serious action by stating that it isn’t a significant contributor to global GHG emissions”. Said Maria Reyes from Fridays for Future México. “Vulnerable communities in Mexico are among the most affected by the Climate Crisis in Latin America. And yet, Mr. Obrador’s unwillingness to take the Climate Crisis seriously and act accordingly is adding more fuel to the fire that is already consuming the country” Reyes added.

For more information: Ximena Toledo ximena@pauta.mx  (+52) 55 4357 8194 @nuestrofuturoac