Spring 2015 Environmental and Energy Law Perspectives

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T H E GEORGE WA SHI NGTON U N I V ER SIT Y L AW SCHOOL

PERSPECTIVES

ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY LAW

Perspectives

PROGRAM ESTABLISHED 1970

PERSPECTIVES

Electricity Reform and Climate Change Mitigation in Mexico

Nicholas S. Bryner Visiting Associate Professor of Law and Environmental Program Fellow

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n December 2013, Mexico amended several articles of its national constitution related to energy, introducing sweeping reform into the petroleum and electricity sectors. These constitutional amendments, designed to reduce inefficiencies in state-run institutions and boost economic growth, represent a significant, but controversial change to the country’s long-standing practices and open up the country to investment in areas previously controlled by state monopolies. In August 2014, based on the constitutional amendments, Mexico’s

congress passed a new Electric Industry Act (Ley de la Industria Eléctrica). The act breaks up the vertically integrated Federal Electricity Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, or CFE), exposing it to competition in the electricity generation sector. It also reorganizes the regulatory agencies that oversee the electric industry, creates a national wholesale electricity market, and allows for private investment in state-owned electricity transmission and distribution. This article examines Mexico’s new Electric Industry Act in the context of broader global changes in electricity systems. These shifts include technological changes, such as the advent of smart grid infrastructure; efforts to promote access to electricity; environmental concerns, particularly with regard to climate change; and other disruptive challenges to traditional models of electricity service. The restructuring of Mexico’s electricity sector has the potential to both reshape the country’s role in the region’s electricity markets and define Mexico’s commitment to climate change mitigation policies—including its national goal of generating 35 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2024. Two challenges for Mexico moving forward will be figuring out how to incorporate lessons learned from other models of electricity regulation and taking steps to make sure that new policies put Mexico on a path toward meeting its climate change goals and commitments. continued on page 9

SPRING 2015 ISSUE PERSPECTIVES 1, 9–14 UPCOMING EVENTS 1, 16 WHAT’S NEW 1, 15–16 RECENT EVENTS 3–5, 9 PROFILES 6–9 IN PRINT 9

UPCOMING EVENTS

2015 J.B. & Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium

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n March 26–27, GW Law School is sponsoring the 2015 Shapiro Symposium, “Advanced Monitoring, Remote Sensing, and Data Gathering, Analysis and Disclosure in Compliance and Enforcement.” The law school has partnered with the Environmental Law Institute, Environmental Council of the States, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in The Netherlands, and the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE). The two-day continued on page 16


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