Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, and Mexico

I guess there are two arguments.

1. It’s never going to happen with a state owned company. The state won’t give up its profits.

2. It’s never going to happen with privately owned companies. The companies would sue the state for billions.

I think it can happen with a state owned company. Mexico doesn’t need to sell expensive gasoline to its population, many of whom struggle to pay world market prices for petroleum products. It could follow the lead of Norway and China.

Norway and China have become world leaders in battery electric vehicles. China has been motivated by horrendous air pollution as well as a lack of petroleum. Norway has excess petroleum but uses that as an export commodity to contribute to funding social programs, including financial supports to electrification of personal transportation.

Mexico could follow Norway’s lead in emphasizing the export, not consumption, of petroleum while following China’s lead in becoming a production centre for battery electric vehicles. Advancing BYD’s desire to open production in Mexico would be a start.

As Xóchitl Gálvez said, “oil-rich Mexico should invest more in renewable energy, ‘We haven’t done it because we are dumbasses.’”