Kerry calls for keeping power markets open in Mexico

U_S_ climate envoy John Kerry has called for more investment in clean energy and urged Mexico to keep its power market “open and competitive.”

MEXICO CITY -- U.S. climate envoy John Kerry called Wednesday for more investment in clean energy and urged Mexico to keep its market “open and competitive" amid tensions over Mexico’s plan to favor its state-owned electricity company and limit private and foreign firms that have invested in renewable power.

“What we want to do is work with Mexico in a way that will strengthen ... the ability of the marketplace to be able to be open and competitive,” Kerry said during opening remarks on his visit to Mexico City.

U.S. firms have complained bitterly about constitutional changes proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in October. Those changes are still held up in the Mexican Congress, where they need a two-thirds majority that López Obrador hasn't yet been able to pull together.

Those changes would guarantee a majority market share for state-owned power plants that often burn dirty fuel oil or coal, while limiting private wind, natural gas and solar plants to a minority market share.