Friday, April 25, 2014

Greenpeace Urges Mexico to Promote Renewable Energy

04/25/2014

MEXICO CITY – Greenpeace protesters at a conference in this capital urged the Mexican government to promote renewable forms of energy to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

Holding up a banner reading “More Renewable Energy, Less Oil,” the Greenpeace activists tried to interrupt Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell’s speech at the second edition of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos’ ExpoForo event, which ends Thursday.

Security personnel responded by removing the activists from Mexico City’s Banamex convention center, where the gathering is being held, Mexican financial daily El Economista reported.

The energy overhaul adopted last December “fell short of addressing our country’s challenges and commitments to combat climate change,” Greenpeace Mexico spokesman Hector Magallon said outside the building.

However, the overhaul’s still-pending implementing legislation “gives us the opportunity to move toward a low-emission model,” he said.

The Greenpeace members distributed pamphlets with their demands outside the convention center.

Mexico accounts for 1.4 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions and ranks as the world’s 12th-biggest polluter, Magallon said, citing U.N. figures, adding that the energy sector is responsible for 67.3 percent of Mexico’s carbon-dioxide emissions.

“Our planet urgently needs us to stop burning fossil fuels and to take advantage of sun and wind to avoid catastrophic impacts from climate change,” he said.

Among other measures, Magallon said shale-gas development should be banned, contending that the extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” contaminates aquifers with heavy metals.

He also called for tax incentives for companies developing renewable energy sources and disincentives for those that are greenhouse-gas emitters.


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