Obama To Strike Clean Energy Pact With Mexico, Canada

The U.S. and Mexico will reportedly announce on June 29 that they have reached an agreement to increase the percentage of clean power electricity sources in both countries to 50 percent over the next nine years.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Nieto are expected to publicly discuss the plans at the Three Amigos summit in Ottawa, Canada, sources told CBC News. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who reached an agreement with Obama in March to significantly reduce pollutants like methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC), will host the trilateral summit.

Only 13 percent of electricity in the U.S. is derived from renewable energy sources like wind, solar and hydroelectricity, while 19 percent comes from nuclear. Approximately 25 percent of Mexico’s electricity comes from sources that are not fossil fuel, which includes nuclear sources. All three countries will reportedly commit to reducing certain kinds of harmful emissions by between 40 and 45 percent.

“I can say we do ‘ambitious’ well here at the White House,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz in response to the reported clean energy target, although he declined to make any announcements before the summit, notes Reuters.

North America is responsible for approximately 20 percent of the world’s methane emissions, which traps heat more readily than CO2 and is considered 25 times as dangerous.

Canada stands to profit the most from the two countries’ clean energy targets, as it uses a significantly higher percentage of renewable energy, with 60 percent of electricity coming from hydro and 3 percent from solar and wind, plus an additional 21 percent from nuclear. Leaders are expected to discuss sharing clean power sources and finding new ways to freely move it between the three countries.

“The environment and energy will definitely be the major topic of the summit,” a source told CBC News. “It’s important that we make progress on collective action, it’s at the top of the list.”

A spokeswoman for Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna confirmed that the event will focus on clean energy production, though she did not confirm specifics, either.

Sources: CBC, Reuters / Photo credit: Pete Souza/Wikimedia Commons