Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

In 2024, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law, AC (CEMDA) filed an injunction on behalf of the community of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, against the omission of the authority to submit the San Mex project to public consultation.

On March 10, 2021, Greenpeace Mexico filed an injunction with the First District Court for Administrative Matters Specialized in Economic Competition, Broadcasting, and Telecommunications, challenging the constitutionality of the amendments to the Electricity Industry Law and the National Electricity Sector Development Program 2020-2034. In its lawsuit, Greenpeace also requested the suspension of the implementation of both regulations.

On June 22, 2022, Greenpeace Mexico filed an injunction with the Third District Court for Administrative Matters Specialized in Economic Competition, Broadcasting, and Telecommunications against the National Electricity System Development Program 2022-2036 (PRODESEN 2022-2036), a national public policy instrument regarding the development of the electricity system.

In August 2024, a group of female fisherwomen, accompanied by the Tsikini AC organization from the State of Colima, filed an injunction against various authorities, including the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), for the damage caused by the Manzanillo Thermoelectric Power Plant (the second largest thermoelectric plant in Mexico, which uses fuel oil and gas), alleging the violation of the human right to a healthy environment, to health, and the lack of compliance with climate commitments.

On May 26, 2023, Agreement No. A/018/2023 of the Energy Regulatory Commission was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, updating the reference values of the methodologies for calculating the efficiency of electrical energy cogeneration systems and the criteria for determining efficient cogeneration, as well as the efficiency criteria and calculation methodology for determining the percentage of fuel-free energy established in resolutions RES/003/2011, RES/206/2014, RES/291/2012 and RES/1838/2016, respectively.

Mexico's General Law on Climate Change was published in 2012, and it included the Climate Change Fund, a public trust created to increase existing resources to address climate change, whose objective was to attract and channel public, private, national and international financial resources to support the implementation of actions to address climate change.

The Federal Executive Branch of Mexico filed an Action of Unconstitutionality against the Decree published in the Official Gazette of the state of Baja California that reforms articles that regulate the environmental tax in the local Finance Law.

Members of the Mexican Senate filed a constitutional challenge against the Decree reforming various provisions of the Electricity Industry Law , published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) on March 9, 2021. They argue that these changes affected free competition, the environment, and the Mexican State's international commitments and obligations regarding the environment and climate change, for the following reasons:

The Río Playa Ejido filed a lawsuit to challenge the formulation, execution and publication of the Management Program for the Protected Natural Area of the Rio Playa Ecological Reserve, arguing that the participation of the guardians of the territory, who are fundamental to the preservation of nature, in this case, the ejido members, was not prioritized.

In late 2021, Oceana Mexico filed a lawsuit alleging that the Mexican Congress had failed to create effective general regulations for the restoration or recovery of depleted or overexploited fish species. The lawsuit argued that the General Law on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture was ineffective.