Columbia Energy Exchange

With her historic victory in Mexico’s presidential election in June, Claudia Sheinbaum will be the country’s first-ever female leader. And because of her background as a climate scientist who contributed to influential UN climate reports, many hope she will reverse Mexico’s drift away from climate leadership. But it’s not simple. Sheinbaum is a political protégé of outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In his six years as president, López Obrador was a popular leader, but failed to advance climate policy. In fact, Mexico is one of just two countries out of the G20 without a net-zero target for carbon emissions. Even as López Obrador propped up the oil sector, the primary state-owned petroleum company Pemex is deep in debt and seeing four-decade lows in production. And Mexico’s heavy dependence on the U.S. for natural gas is a growing energy security issue for the country. Sheinbaum has promised to boost clean energy – how effective will she be? Will she be able to address the country’s growing power