GM announced it will leave Mexico if we do not have a legal framework focused on producing and protecting renewable or clean energy.
The car manufacturer warned that it will look for other investment destinations to meet its goals of zero pollutant emissions, because “it will not stop its vision: if the conditions do not exist, Mexico will no longer be a destination for investment.” said the President and CEO of the company in Mexico, the day after the presidents of Mexico, the United States, and Canada agreed to promote renewable energy, by signing the Commitment on Methane and Black Carbon.
“If the conditions are not on the table, Mexico is not going to be an investment destination in the short and medium-term, and today as our investments take between 5 and 7 years, we are evaluating that if the conditions are not, That dollar that was going to be invested in Mexico goes to the US, Canada, Brazil, China, Europe. And Mexico is no longer an important destination. Today we are at the limit to decide if Mexico will be an investment destination, at least in our organization ”.
The warning derives from the lies and contradictions of López Obrador, who opted for dirty energy by promoting his electrical or energy counter-reform that favors polluting energies. Due to its location, supply, qualified labor, trade agreements since NAFTA, a Chinese challenge, Mexico has been an attractive destination to invest in.
But now that GM has the goal for 2040, that 100% of the energy it consumes globally comes from renewable sources, they will not achieve it in Mexico without a consistent policy on clean energy. GM has 4 plants in Mexico,
The energy counter-reform of the 4T, and would cancel, even more, investment contracts for the generation of renewable energies – claimed the US ambassador -, increasingly exhibits the disastrous consequences for Mexico: other companies that have among their goals to produce With zero dirty emissions, they will stop investing or buying here, and worse still, there will be divestment of those that already are. In Mexico, the production of oil and gas, its transport and processing, causes such high emissions of methane that we are the 5th largest emitter of this substance in the world, 2 times more than that of the world’s largest producer of crude oil, the United States (the Fund for the Defense of Environment confirms that 4.7% of the gas produced in Mexico is released into the atmosphere). If the economy is hardly going to grow throughout the six-year term; Pemex does not increase crude oil production; CFE increases liabilities, blackouts, inefficiency; obstacles to investors; legal uncertainty in the electricity sector; more pollution; if neglect of export manufacturing that requires clean electrical energy, etc. There will come more unemployment, migration to the US, crime, misery.
This Commitment on Methane and Black Carbon committed us to lower emissions of both pollutants and accelerate the deployment of renewable energies and accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles, and towards the use of cleaner fuels. AMLO must clarify how he will link his counter-reform to these commitments; otherwise they will sue us for defaults, but then he will be gone.
AMLO defends against him with lies: that Oxxo or Bimbo pay less for electricity than a home, that the reform does not imply expropriating solar panels – there is an express provision in their initiative -; that the CFE does not subsidize it, but in the Budget of Expenditures that deputies have just approved there is a specific item to subsidize electricity consumption, and the income tax and unequal retirement of its workers. Let us demand that the deputies of Morena and Paleros do not approve a counter-reform that is harmful to all. Yes to jobs, and better paid. And to the rule of law. No to the criminal policy of the poorest!
Juan Miguel Alcantara
