• FAST TRACK: The López Obrador Administration fast tracked legal changes to Mexico’s renewable market by expanding “clean energy certificates” to hydroelectric and geothermal energy produced by state utility CFE’s legacy plants risking legal challenges from investors.
• MAJOR CHANGE: Popularly known as CELs (for their Spanish acronym), clean energy certificates were new instruments through which the previous Mexican Government tried to propel the building of new clean energy plants (state-owned elecrtic utility CFE was not given any CELs).
• RISKS:“Those (clean energy) projects that are being developed are going to be canceled or they are going to be suspended indefinitely. And those that are currently operating, they will obviously suffer great effects on profitability”, says congressman Hernán Salinas from the opposition PAN party.
• PARIS AGREEMENT: Along with risking litigation from investors, the changes published Monday in the Mexican Government official gazette call into question whether Mexico will be able to reach its 35% clean energy target for 2024, a promise under the 2015’s UN Paris Climate Change Agreement.
