Low Carbon Development For Mexico

To reduce the risk of climate change impacts it is necessary for the world to lower the carbon intensity of economic development. 'Low-Carbon Development for Mexico' estimates the net costs, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, and investment that would be needed to achieve a low-carbon scenario in Mexico to the year 2030. Among the key findings of the study are the following: Energy efficiency. Improving energy end-use efficiency in the industrial, residential, and public sectors is the least-cost option for reducing carbon emissions and can be achieved by accelerating current Mexican programs and policies. Supply efficiency and renewable energy. Mexico can lower the carbon intensity of the economy by improving the efficiency of energy supply in the electric power and petroleum industries, and by expanding the adoption of renewable energy technologies such as wind, biomass, small hydro, and geothermal. Public transport and vehicle fleet efficiency. Transport is the largest and fastest growing contributor of GHG emissions in Mexico, the majority of which comes from road transport. The greatest potential for reducing transport emissions lies with improving the quality and efficiency of urban transport, including more efficient vehicles and the design and organization of cities and public transport systems. Forestry significant potential with large co-benefits. Measures to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), along with afforestation and commercial plantations, are among the largest GHG mitigation options in Mexico, and could provide numerous social and environmental benefits in rural areas. By undertaking a limited number of low-carbon interventions that are technologically and financially viable today, Mexico could hold carbon emissions relatively constant over the coming two decades while maintaining a vigorous rate of economic and social development. The costs of such a program would be relatively modest, but would require a range of regulatory and institutional changes to achieve, especially in the energy and transport sectors.

This book identifies a set of viable and affordable low-carbon interventions that would allow Mexico to achieve substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades without sacrificing economic and social development.

Without energy, there is no well-functioning economy, besides facing social risks. This book provides a systemic approach to energy in Mexico and its relations to the USA arising from the energy reform of the former. It covers the transition from fossil fuels to a low-carbon economy, relying heavily on renewable sources and mitigating climate change risks. Several human knowledge disciplines and topics are covered in the book, including public policy, economics, transboundary issues, electricity and thermal energy, residual biomass use, distributed energy systems and its management, and decision-making tools. An analysis is considered regarding energy issues interaction in the Mexican-USA border, which differ in both countries from pricing and policy, and the work and research that has been developed for transboundary energy trade.

In this open access publication it is shown, that sustainable low carbon development is a transformative process that constitutes the shifting from the initially chosen or taken pathway to another pathway as goals have been re-visited and revised to enable the system to adapt to changes. However, shifting entails transition costs that are accrued through the effects of lock-ins that have framed decisions and collective actions. The uncertainty about these costs can be overwhelming or even disruptive. This book aims to provide a comprehensive and integrated analytical framework that promotes the understanding of transformation towards sustainability. The analysis of this book is built upon negotiative perspectives to help define, design, and facilitate collective actions in order to execute the principles of sustainability. Dr Dr Ariel Macaspac Hernandez is currently a researcher at the German Development Institute belonging to the research cluster knowledge cooperation and environmental governance. He was/is also a lecturer on negotiations, conflict and resource management, sustainability politics, environmental governance, climate change policies, development aid and sustainable energy systems in various universities in Germany, Philippines, Jamaica, Estonia, Spain and Mexico.

This paper discusses a comprehensive strategy for implementing Mexico’s climate mitigation commitments. Progressively increasing carbon prices from current levels of US$3 per ton to US$75 per ton by 2030 would achieve Mexico’s mitigation pledges, while raising annual revenues of 1.8 percent of GDP and cumulatively averting 11,600 deaths from local air pollution. The carbon price would raise fossil fuel and electricity prices, imposing burdens of 2.7 percent of consumption on the average Mexican household. However, recycling carbon pricing revenues would offset most of this burden, and targeted transfers could make the reform pro-poor and pro-equity. Additionally, the economic efficiency costs of carbon pricing (0.3 percent of GDP in 2030) are more than offset by local air pollution and other domestic environmental benefits (before even counting climate benefits). Mexico would need a more ambitious 2030 target if it were to follow many other countries in adopting a midcentury ‘net-zero’ emissions target. To enhance the effectiveness of the mitigation strategy, carbon pricing can be reinforced with sectoral instruments, such as feebates in the transport, power, industry, building, forestry, extractive, and agricultural sectors. Complementary policies are also needed to support public investment in the clean energy transition.

There is an increasing consensus in the scientific community that climate change is a real and present threat. Despite the large uncertainty on the timing, magnitude and even the direction of some of the physical and economic effects of this phenomenon, it is widely accepted that the differences are regional and that developing countries as well as lower income populations tend to suffer the most. In this context, it is critical for Latin American countries to develop strategies for adapting to the various impacts of climate change, and for contributing to global efforts aimed at mitigation. Climate Change in Latin America contributes to these efforts by addressing a number of questions related to the causes and consequences of climate change in the case of Latin America. What are the likely impacts of climate change in the region? Which countries and regions will be most affected? What can governments do to tackle the challenges associated with adapting to climate change? What role can Latin America play in the area of climate change mitigation? While the book does not attempt to provide definitive answers to these questions, it contributs new information and analysis that could help to inform the public policy debate on this important issue.

John R. Moroney and Flory Dieck-Assad cogently assess Mexico's goals of sustainability and the major policy changes that will be required to achieve them.

Technological revolutions have increased the world’s wealth unevenly and in ways that have accelerated climate change. This report argues that achieving The Paris Agreement’s objectives would require a massive transfer of existing and commercially proven low-carbon technologies (LCT) from high-income to developing countries where the bulk of future emissions is expected to occur. This mass deployment is not only a necessity but also an opportunity: Policies to deploy LCT can help countries achieve economic and other development objectives, like improving human health, in addition to reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs). Additionally, LCT deployment offers an opportunity for countries with sufficient capabilities to benefit from participation in global value chains and produce and export LCTs. Finally, the report calls for a greater international involvement in supporting the poorest countries, which have the least access to LCT and finance and the most underdeveloped physical, technological, and institutional capabilities that are essential to benefit from technology.