Angelica Enciso L.
Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, November 8, 2022, p. 12
The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) announced that, with new protected natural areas, the Sembrando Vida program, the railway system and the conservation of mangroves, among other measures, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by almost 90 millions of tons.
This is part of the contributions to reduce emissions that the Mexican government will present at the COP27 on climate change in Egypt, which the head of the agency, María Luisa Albores, will not attend, but Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will attend, who will sign an agreement with the United States.
In a videoconference, Albores said that the National Determined Contributions (NDC) were presented to the United States government a few days ago and that eight new measures were established, in addition to the 35 that were presented in 2020, since the Unconditional NDCs rose from 22 to 30 percent in 2030, while conditional ones went from 36 to 40 percent.
Nature-based solutions
Luisa Albores explained that the new measures are in nature-based solutions
to 2030, which includes the Sembrando Vida program, which will mitigate 4 million tons of carbon dioxide per year; with new protected natural areas, of which there were 182 at the beginning of this administration and will seek to reach 190, in this way the mitigation will be in 2 million hectares, with which 8 million tons of carbon dioxide will be avoided.
There is also a national blue carbon strategy (brackish marshes, mangroves and seagrasses), with which 15 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent would be captured.
Additionally, there are measures in low carbon transport
in which electromobility, the remote work strategy of one million people and rail transport are considered, with an estimate of 400 thousand tons of carbon dioxide avoided in the Mayan Train.
The third line that was presented was the regulation and industrial promotion, in which energy efficiency is considered, with which 27 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent will be mitigated, as well as the national Circular Economy strategy, with 3.5 million tons. tons.
The secretary mentioned that the set of new measures will lead to an estimated annual reduction of 88.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.
Albores reported that the Mexican delegation from Semarnat that will attend the COP in Egypt will be made up of Agustín Ávila, director of the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (Inecc) and Miguel Zerón, from the area of international affairs.
