mexico, support for the development and uptake of - Unido

Synthesis of the National Circumstances
In this introductory subsection a brief synthesis of the Country’s situation is presented, containing
aggregate data on the economy; environment and GHG emissions, and the energy and the industrial
sectors, to help to locate the UNIDO-Austria Project within the national circunstances.
Mexico’s Economy
Mexico is the largest Latin American economy, the 8th within the OECD countries (but the second
lowest in per capita) and according to the World Bank’s last report 2 continues to be the 10 th world
economy (but the 80th in per-capita in the world). The Country possesses 12% of the biodiversity
of the world, its geographical area is very near to 2 million square kilometers and the population
reaches 105 million inhabitants this year. Mexico is the 7th country in commercial exchange within
the World Trade Organization (WTO), exports added to 28% of the GDP (manufactured goods
87.3%, oil and derivatives 9.8%, agricultural products 2.5%) 3 .
Table 1 Three-monthly GDP, 2005
Total
Manufacturing
industry
2005/01 7,906,146 1,282,572
INEGI National Accounting System, 2005. Million current pesos.
Services constitute 68% of the economy, industry 28% and the primary sector 4%. The national
industry is very competitive in some areas, like oil and gas, cement, auto motors production, soft
drinks and beer, as well as the telecommunication services.
Environment and climate change 4
The economic growth is still not separated from the environmental deterioration. The only
exception being the energy intensity (4,304 KJ/$pesos at 1994 and 4,184 KJ/$pesos at 1999)
showing a reduction of CO 2 emissions per GDP unit during the past decade.
Mexico signed the Climate Change Convention in 1992 and ratified at 1993. The Kyoto Protocol
was early ratified (2000). The Country has fulfilled all its commitments to the Convention.
According to the last complete inventory (1996) 5 , Mexico’s CO 2 emissions added to 514.0 Tg (74%
of the total for all GHGs). Place in the world: 14th in total emissions and 17th in CO 2 per capita
(3,460 kg/capita in 1995). At present the 3 rd National communication is being prepared, including
the update of the inventory of emissions.
The last Emission Inventory also covered some partial aspects for 1998:
Energy related: 350.4 Tg (fix, area sources and transport.
Combustion: 245.8 Tg (fix and area sources only).
2 Atlas, World Development Indicators 2005, World Bank, Press releases, July 2005.
3 Along this study the Mexican usual convention is used: decimal point and comma to separate
thousands.
4 Very recently (July 2005), INE opened a climate change page at: cambio_climatico.ine.gob.mx/index2.html
5 MEXICO, 2a National Communication, SEMARNAT, INE, July 2001. See also
http://www.ine.gob.mx/dgicurg/cclimatico/inventario2.html
Chapter I, UNIDO-AUSTRIA 12