Clean Energy, Mexico's Environmental Agenda, Carbon Credits, Climate Change, Compliance
Colombia “REACH”? Chile “REACH”? Colombia chemical registration? Peru’s adoption of GHS? All these new chemical rules can be so confusing.?
Get the answers you need with our “Crash Course on Chemical Registration in Latin America.”? This online self-paced video and written materials course is available to you from anywhere in the world.? Learn all about it here: rb.gy/1e9owi
Green Energy: Brazil’s Low Carbon Hydrogen
Brazil continues with its progressive plans to tackle climate change.? Newly-enacted Law 14.990/2024 created the Program for development of Low-Carbon Emission Hydrogen.? So-called “low-carbon hydrogen” generally refers to using production methods to lower the GHG emissions either by capturing and storing carbon dioxide (“blue hydrogen”), using renewable energy for the electrolysis (“green hydrogen”), or other techniques.
The new law seeks to stimulate the green energy transition by granting a tax credit on the sale of low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives produced in Brazil in compliance with the guidelines. "Low-carbon hydrogen" is that which is produced with emissions equal to or lower than 7 kg of CO2 equivalent per kilo of hydrogen produced.?
The definition of “low-carbon hydrogen” comes from Brazil’s National Policy on Low-Carbon Hydrogen enacted In August of this year in Law 14.948/2024.?
Brazil continues to build the regulatory scaffolding needed to support its climate ambitions.? How these programs will play out in terms of real-world application is yet to be seen.
Link to Law 14.990/2024
Goals of Mexico’s New Environmental Administration
October 1st was Mexico’s newest national holiday:? Inauguration Day.? That day, the country swore in Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo as its first female President.? And the next day, the new head of the top environmental agency, SEMARNAT, took office:? Dr. Alicia Barcena.? The agency she helms has the following stated priorities for this next six-year administration, among others:
·??????? Promotion of renewable energies with a goal of 45 percent renewables by 2030
·??????? Promotion of more fuel efficient vehicles and electric mobility
·??????? Clean up of the country’s three most polluted rivers: Lerma-Santiago River, Tula River, and Atoyac River
·??????? Access to clean water
·??????? Reforestation in forest and jungle areas
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·??????? Installation of waste recycling plants to tackle waste management
·??????? Addressing air pollution in the big three cities:? CDMX, Guadalajara, and Monterrey
Climate Change:? The details
If offset projects are part of the solution to climate change, then we will need to get the details right on measuring the emissions and reductions.? The technical standards will be very important here to make sure that money flowing to such projects in the Latin American area are creating actual quantifiable benefits.? Peru just posted for public comment an important document in this regard:? the Methodological document on the measurement of emissions, reductions and removals of Greenhouse Gases from the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry sector.?
If your company is involved in creating these projects – or buying offsets from them – take note.
Link to Draft:
Check those Carbon Credits
Given its vast natural resources and standing forests, it is no mystery that Latin America represents an important region for so-called REDD+ projects.? REDD+ or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation is a part of the Paris Agreement – and seeks to mitigate climate change by protecting forested areas in exchange for tradeable carbon credits.?
In order for the projects to work, not only do they need to be technically viable and produce real credits, but the parties involved need to have participated in an informed and consensual manner.? Based on its first ruling in a climate case, Colombia’s Constitutional Court found that the rights of indigenous communities at the center of one particular REDD+ project were violated when the deal to sell carbon credits in their territory had been signed without their knowledge by someone that did not represent them.? And the third-party verifiers here failed to do their job to check up on those credits, as well.
With this decision, the court is not coming down against such projects – but calling for a better regulatory infrastructure for projects involving indigenous lands with clearer rules on meaningful participation of these communities.?
If carbon offsets and carbon credits from Latin America are part of your company’s plans, it behooves you to be familiar with this case and ask deeper questions of your providers.
Link to Decision:
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