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By KELIN DILLON 

In stark contrast to the policies and opinions held by former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s Secretary of the Economy (SE) Marcelo Ebrard revealed on Wednesday, Oct. 9, that newly inaugurated President Claudia Sheinbaum plans to encourage private sector investment to facilitate Mexico’s adoption of renewable energies.

According to Ebrard, the Mexican government does not have sufficient resources to expand its energy supply and invest in renewables – an opinion shared by Sheinbaum, who holds a doctorate in energy engineering.

“It’s a huge amount of money that has to be distributed to meet the energy needs that we’re going to face in the coming years, especially in the northern part of the country,” Ebrard told U.S. news outlet Bloomberg.

The Secretary of the Economy said that Mexico is ” friendly to investors,” particularly those hailing from the United States, and noted that the Sheinbaum administration would use the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) framework to facilitate these desired investments.

“We need to generate clean energy like never before in the history of Mexico,” continued Ebrard. “That’s why we need private capital. Energy will be  the most important issue for the country’s development during the president’s six-year term.”

Sheinbaum previously announced that her administration aims to generate 45 percent of the country’s energy via renewables by 2030, the final year of her presidential term.