Mexico to call for more climate funds at Cop 26

Mexico will call for increased financing to meet emissions reduction targets across Latin America at the UN Cop 26 climate conference in Glasgow next month, foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said.

"Access to financing is not proportional or equitable, nor does it correspond to the amount of emissions each country generates," Ebrard said yesterday. "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating on Latin America and, unlike the US and Europe, we just do not have access to the amount of financing required to meet climate targets."

As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, rich countries committed $100bn each year to help developing countries adapt to climate change by 2020 but "none of that money has been spent," Ebrard said.

While some money has been invested, a UN report last year confirmed the target would not be met.

Aside from financing concerns, Mexico plans to present flagship projects including the proposed $2bn, 1GW Puerto Penasco solar park and the Sembrando Vida reforestation program, Ebrard said.

But environmental organizations have criticized the reforestation program, claiming trees and jungle have been deliberately felled to make way for replanting. Meanwhile, a project the size of the Puerto Penasco solar park has never been built in Mexico and it is unclear how CFE — with losses of $736mn in the second quarter of this year — could finance the project without private-sector participation.

Mexico's delegation at the climate talks will be limited to the environment minister Maria Luisa Albores and low-ranking foreign ministry representatives.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has prioritized energy security over climate change policies during his administration but, during a visit from US climate envoy John Kerry earlier this month, pledged to support US climate change plans at the climate talks.

But while the US is pushing a net-zero GHG emissions target by 2050, Lopez Obrador submitted an electricity reform bill on 1 October that would favor more polluting fuel oil- and diesel-powered generation and cancel clean energy certificates — Mexico's primary mechanism for renewable power development.

Mexico has committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 22pc by 2030 and 50pc by 2050 against a 2005 baseline as part of its Paris Agreement pledge, targets that the country is unlikely to meet under current policy.

By Rebecca Conan