LatinNews Daily - 01 February 2024

*Mexico’s supreme court (SCJN) has ruled against the government’s controversial 2021 electricity reform which seeks to prioritise energy generated by the state-run power firm Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) over that produced by private renewable energy providers. In a statement the SCJN said that the reform “violates the principles of competition” and that changes made by the reform to the system of issuing clean energy certificates disincentivise “effective production of clean energy”, contravening the country’s efforts to boost sustainable development. In April 2022 the SCJN had upheld the reform as constitutional after falling one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for it to be struck down. However, with most of the SCJN justices (seven out of 11) having ruled against articles of the bill in that 2022 verdict, a precedent had been set for companies to take legal action and the reform had not been implemented in the meantime. The proposal had received considerable criticism domestically and abroad amid concerns it would breach investment and free competition rules enshrined in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on regional trade and would promote the use of fossil fuels, thereby contravening commitments to promote clean energy.