In an interview with The Science of Where Magazine, Lisa Viscidi, director of the Energy, Climate Change, and Extractive Industries Program, and Sarah Phillips, program assistant, discussed Latin America’s progress toward the energy transition and its geopolitical implications.
The Amazon rainforest, one of the world’s most important ecosystems, faces environmental impacts from hydroelectric dams, oil and gas drilling sites, and mining projects. A new database and analysis by the Inter-American Dialogue reveals that state-owned enterprises, as well as small and mid-sized international companies from a handful of countries, operate the largest share of such projects in the Amazon region, meaning these companies have a substantial influence over the implementation of environmental and social safeguards.
Over the past two years, the government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has sought to strip away central aspects of the 2013 energy reform that increased private investment in the power sector and return control of the sector to state utility CFE. These moves will reduce needed investment in the sector and lead to higher electricity costs for Mexican industry and manufacturing, affecting employment, trade, and Mexico’s ability to meet its clean energy targets, according to this new report by the Inter-American Dialogue.
This policy brief examines the regulatory changes in Mexico’s electric power sector made under the López Obrador administration. The brief analyzes the broader implications for Mexico’s economy and its trade and economic relations with its key trading partner, the United States. A full report will be forthcoming in October 2020.
Latin American national oil companies (NOCs) have made important advances in slashing emissions from their operations through techniques such as reducing flaring, improving energy efficiency, and injecting CO2 for enhanced oil recovery, according to a new report by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Inter-American Development Bank. Yet, progress in producing lower carbon energy sources for consumers has been sluggish, no Latin American NOC has committed to net zero emissions, and for some companies emissions are on the rise, the report finds.
The US has introduced several measures to facilitate energy & infrastructure investment in Latin America. However, the impact will likely be constrained by the challenging investment environment in many Latin American countries, demonstrating the limitations for the US in competing with China’s centralized economic model.
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Political changes are shaping the outlook in many of South America’s smaller and emerging oil and gas producers, including Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. At a webinar co-hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue and the National Capital Area Chapter of the United States Association for Energy Economics (NCAC-USAEE), panelists discussed how political developments and the oil price decline are likely to impact producers in the region.
Which oil-producing nations in Latin America and the Caribbean will be the hardest hit by the oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia?
Until recently Mexico stood out within Latin America as a top potential producer of wind and solar energy, but policies under the López Obrador administration have made the climate for renewable energy investment increasingly hostile. Lisa Viscidi, director of the Energy Program, and Sarah Phillips, program assistant, sat down with Nathaniel Parish Flannery of Forbes to discuss what’s ahead for Mexico’s renewable resource sector.
This event, hosted in collaboration with the Institute of the Americas, aimed to examine the issues facing Mexico’s climate for energy investment across various sectors including power, renewables, oil and natural gas.
Electric mobility is gaining ground globally as technology costs fall, awareness is improved, and policies are increasingly aligned with environmental goals. Caribbean nations are well positioned to reap the benefits of electric mobility, concluded panelists at an event hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue and New Energy Events, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States.
