Mexico invites foreign investment in clean energy transition

Mexico welcomes investment by all countries in its clean energy projects, its foreign minister said on Thursday, launching a diplomatic charm offensive amid international concerns over controversial power reforms. Several dozen ambassadors were taken on a visit to a giant solar park being built in Puerto Penasco in the desert in northern Mexico using photovoltaic panels made in China. “We want to invite all the countries of the world, all the companies of the world” to “participate, invest, be part of the future of Mexico,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said. The first phase of the solar plant is due to be inaugurated in April by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, according to officials. Once completed, the park will be able to supply 1.6 million electricity users, thanks to an estimated investment totaling $1.6 billion, according to state power provider CFE. Mexico pledged at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt in November to strengthen its emissions-cutting efforts as part of a $48 billion renewable energy investment scheme with the United States. The Latin American nation previously committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 22 percent from the business-as-usual levels by 2030, but will increase that to 35 percent, Ebrard said at the time. The Mexican-US collaboration in renewable power comes despite tensions between the neighbors over Lopez Obrador’s efforts to boost the state’s role in the energy sector. Mexico faces a formal trade complaint from Washington and Ottawa, which say the reforms hurt foreign investors and favor polluting fossil fuels over clean energy.