The United States needs to explore ways to make investing in alternative energy projects in Mexico more economically viable and profitable, including possible subsidies and tax breaks for companies looking to invest in alternative energy both within the United States and abroad. One way to do this is to make use of The Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2008 (H.R. 2764) to finance renewable energy projects in Mexico. H.R. 2764 was passed in the 110th U.S. Congress in June 2007 and signed into law by former President Bush in December 2007 and encourages the Export-Import Bank of the United States to invest 10 percent of its financing capacity in promoting the export of clean energy products and services.
In addition, the United States must become a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol and any new international climate change initiatives on the horizon. The United States should take advantage of substantial financing opportunities in Mexico through the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. The Clean Development Mechanism allows emission-reduction—or emission-removal—projects in developing countries to earn certified emission-reduction credits, which can then be traded and sold and used by industrialized countries to meet a part of their emission-reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. As of January 2008, Mexico accounted for 100 of the nearly 900 CDM projects registered worldwide, having been awarded with 2.3 million carbon emission reduction credits, making Mexico the second-largest creator of carbon credits in Latin America.
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