This month as negotiators met in the Brazilian rain forest for COP 30, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration announced a new emissions target under the Paris Agreement, called a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), to cut Mexico’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50% below the trend scenario levels by 2035. Importantly, the NDC also reaffirms Mexico’s goal of reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030 compared with 2020 levels, in accordance with national oil company PEMEX’s 2024 Sustainability Plan.
This move demonstrates Mexico’s firm commitment under President Sheinbaum to climate action, particularly methane reduction—one of the fastest and most cost-effective pathways to slow global warming. The oil and gas sector plays a decisive role in meeting these goals, contributing 8% of Mexico’s national emissions in 2024. These emissions stem mainly from hydrocarbon extraction, refining, and transportation, where gas flaring and venting, leaks in pipelines and facilities, and the high energy consumption of refineries and processing centers remain critical pollution sources.
Methane reduction offers Mexico a triple benefit:
Energy efficiency: Capturing methane allows the recovery of natural gas currently being lost, improving the country’s energy performance.
- Climate mitigation: Reducing methane emissions significantly contributes to slowing global warming.
- Public health: Lower methane emissions help prevent respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, avoiding hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and reducing cases of asthma, lung cancer, and heart-related illnesses.
In addition to an aggressive target, the NDC also lays out concrete actions to reduce fugitive methane emissions, curb natural gas venting, and move toward eliminating routine flaring. The plan also promotes the adoption of key technologies such as vapor recovery systems, advanced monitoring, and efficient flaring equipment, enabling faster, measurable, and cost-effective mitigation.
The next steps will be critical to making these reductions a reality and nothing is more important than helping PEMEX access funding to implement solutions. Achieving these goals will require financial mechanisms that facilitate the adoption of technologies to reduce and capture methane emissions. Today, there are many sustainable finance alternatives form international markets and from multilateral banks that PEMEX can leverage to reduce emissions in line with its commitments. EDF is committed to working closely with leaders at PEMEX to help access this needed funding.
Realizing these methane reductions will take work but, through science, innovative solutions, and collaboration with organizations like EDF, Mexico can realize a safer climate and a more efficient energy sector.
