President Obama will set an aggressive new clean energy target later this week when he meets with leaders from Mexico and Canada.
Obama will pledge to derive half of the U.S. electricity supply from wind, solar and other resources in less than a decade.
The president will make the announcement on Wednesday in Ottawa with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico. It will be Obama’s last meeting with the leaders as president, in what has become known as the “Three Amigos” ministerial.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported on Monday that the leaders will pledge to move their countries to produce 50 percent of their electricity from “clean energy” resources by 2025, citing official government sources.
It was not specific about the types of clean energy that would be included in meeting the pledge, or how that will be measured. President Obama supports an all-of-the-above energy policy, but his administration has leaned more toward solar and wind in recent years than toward zero-emission nuclear power and cleaner fossil fuels like natural gas.
The pledge will help to underscore the ability of the three countries to use their integrated economies to harmonize environmental policies, official government sources tell CBC News.
The U.S. and Mexico will make the pledge, since Canada already receives 60 percent of its electricity from zero-emission hydropower, and 3 percent from solar. Canada’s clean energy electricity can soar to over 80 percent if nuclear energy is counted, says the CBC.
The U.S. only receives 13 percent of the electricity from renewable energy, and 19 percent from nuclear energy. Nearly 25 percent of Mexico’s electricity comes from non-fossil fuel power plants, including nuclear.
“There will be a renewed emphasis on integrating the electricity grid between the three countries to allow this clean power to be moved easily across borders,” CBC News reports.
The Canadian news group also says it has confirmed that Mexico will also sign onto an agreement between Canada and the U.S. to cut methane emissions and short-lived pollutants from chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons used in refrigeration.
The agreement would mean that all three countries will cut their emissions by 40-45 percent by 2025, although negotiations were still being finalized over the weekend.
