Green Growth

Mexico has to confront difficult trade-offs in pursuing its economic, social and environmental goals. In recent years, environmental issues have been placed higher on the political agenda. Significant progress, for example, has been made in adopting voluntary targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. However, there is still considerable scope to rebalance the policy mix and to promote the transition to a socially inclusive form of green growth in a more effective, efficient and equitable manner. A key challenge is to reform the subsidies to energy and agriculture, which represent a heavy burden on the government budget and are highly regressive. The new administration has shown commitment to reviewing and reducing these distortive subsidies which could make resources available to support the poor much more effectively. Moreover, Mexico is one of the most important countries globally in terms of biological diversity; successful management of the country’s natural assets is important not only for the sustainability of its economy and the well-being of its people, but also for the planet.