Resources for climate change and energy transition will be 0.6% of GDP

CFE is not required to be transparent in this process, it is likely that the resources involved are to maintain the infrastructure or facilities without necessarily being for the energy transition.

Iván Benumea, coordinator of the tax justice program at Fundar.

Mexico has two transversal annexes in the 2023 Federation Expenditure Budget Project (PPEF) to deal with the climate crisis. These are “Resources for the Adaptation and Mitigation of the Effects of Climate Change” and “Transition Strategy to Promote the Use of Cleaner Technologies and Fuels”, both annexes will represent 0.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the following year.

Together, the two items add up to 198,256 million pesos, which means an increase of 146.1% compared to what was approved for 2022. However, the resources quantified by the authorities and productive companies of the State must be taken with reservations, reported Fundar in its report “Climate Crisis and Budget Opacity. Analysis of the Transversal Annexes against Climate Change and the Energy Transition”.

Iván Benumea Gómez, coordinator of the Fiscal Justice Program at Fundar, commented to El Economista that particularly the increase in the budget of the transversal climate change annex has to do with the inclusion of the Mayan Train work as if it were a project to combat the Global warming effects.

The transversal climate change annex has an amount of 187,968 million pesos for 2023, of which 52% of the resources correspond to the Mayan Train and that in principle this project will promote mass transportation and will impact the environment, something that It is consistent with an anti-climate crisis policy, said the member of Fundar.

At the beginning of the year, more than 20 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) dedicated to environmental protection reported that the Mayan Train route, in Quintana Roo, would cause the loss of more than 8.7 million trees, palms and shrubs in 120 kilometers of jungle.

The deforestation of the jungle is added to the impacts of the work on the Great Mayan Aquifer, the historical heritage and the cave system, all of which are part of the natural heritage of the people of Quintana Roo, revealed the CSOs.

Likewise, there is a record that more than 188 species of native flora and large populations of wildlife would be affected in that region due to the advances of the passenger train.

Benumea Gómez explained that there is currently a debate about whether economic growth makes sense in a context of climate crisis and therefore one should think about economic decline in some aspects and boost growth in other areas that are abandoned.

Change in the methodology is due

Since 2020, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources and the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change have developed a new methodological proposal to ensure that the resources reported in the aforementioned transverse annex have a real impact on climate change.

Fundar reports that two years after its entry into force, the new methodology in said annex has failed to guarantee maximum transparency and accountability in relation to the resources allocated to confront the climate crisis.

“The expenditure functions associated with this problem represent a minimal part of the transversal climate change annex. This annex is completely unbalanced as it gives enormous weight to spending functions such as Fuels and Energy, and significantly relegates other crucial functions for the fight against the climate crisis, such as Environmental Protection and Science, Technology and Innovation”, he details. The report.

Benumea Gómez pointed out that the methodology should be analyzed and modified so that there is total transparency in the resources involved in climate change. He suggested that in the coming years, when the climate change emergency is more serious, the State should seriously evaluate the impact of its policies on the environment.

Opacity in CFE spending

At the same time, the Annex “Transition Strategy to Promote the Use of Cleaner Technologies and Fuels” has an expenditure of 10,288 million pesos for 2023. 92% of this amount is concentrated in electrical infrastructure projects of the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE).

However, Fundar explains that the opacity prevents knowing which projects were cataloged in this category and if they will really promote the use of renewable and clean energies.

“It is a global amount and since CFE is not obliged to be transparent in this process, it is likely that the resources involved are to maintain the infrastructure or facilities without necessarily being for the energy transition,” he said.

santiago.renteria@eleconomista.mx