Mexico
In July 2025, the organizations Project for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ProDESC) and the Mexican Center for Environmental Defense (DAN) submitted a request to the Office of the President of Mexico and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), with a copy to the National Agency for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbons Sector (ASEA), regarding the adoption of measures related to the evaluation, authorization, and operation of projects for the transportation, storage, and supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Gulf of California, along with its associated land areas. Specifically, they requested: i) the undertaking of a strategic environmental assessment of the Gulf of California; ii) the establishment of a moratorium on LNG projects and infrastructure in the Gulf of California; iii) the revocation of environmental impact authorizations granted based on the results of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA); and iv) the adoption of all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or address impacts on people, their environment, and ecosystems resulting from LNG projects.
Given an incomplete and inadequate response from the authorities, the signatory organizations filed a lawsuit seeking protection.
The court granted federal protection because the responses from ASEA and the Presidency of the Republic to the petition submitted in July 2025 were incomplete and did not address the requested measures in a consistent and exhaustive manner.
Consequently, the court ordered that those responses be nullified and that new, duly substantiated and reasoned responses be issued. The resolution also supports the argument that ASEA can adopt measures such as the suspension or revocation of authorizations, within its jurisdiction and in accordance with applicable legal requirements, which could be relevant to the Saguaro and Amigo LNG projects. This does not mean that the ruling directly ordered a moratorium or canceled the authorizations for these projects, but rather that it requires the authorities to respond appropriately to environmental protection requests.
The ruling represents an advance in Mexican environmental justice, by recognizing that the Agency for Safety, Energy and the Environment (ASEA) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) have the authority to conduct a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and analyze preventive measures against the impacts of the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure in the Gulf of California.
Recent research has documented worrying transformations in the Gulf of California attributed to climate change, including a sustained increase in sea surface temperature, impacts on critical habitats and marine species, such as retreat of the Gulf of California coastline, increased wave energy induced by climate change over the last forty years, and an increase in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones.
In addition to these factors, the installation and operation of LNG infrastructure in the Gulf of California will lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, both direct and indirect, including those associated with electricity, steam, and heat consumption in power generation facilities. On average, buried high-pressure natural gas transmission pipelines leak methane at an estimated rate of 627 tons per kilometer per year, while liquefaction plants leak approximately 0.070% of the gas processed in these types of facilities.
The above underscores the magnitude of emissions from the LNG supply and export chain, which, in addition to on-site emissions, include those generated by the final combustion of the exported gas. These exports would represent millions of additional tons of CO₂, with enormous consequences in terms of climate damage, public health, and annual deaths globally.
From the perspective of environmental and climate law, the case is relevant for five reasons:
Prevention of environmental and climate damage: promotes the early assessment of the risks of expanding fossil gas infrastructure, before irreversible damage occurs.
Comprehensive impact assessment: proposes to move beyond isolated assessments of each project to consider the cumulative and synergistic effects of terminals, transport and gas supply on ecosystems and communities.
Energy transition: This opens a space to examine the compatibility of new investments in fossil fuels with Mexico's climate commitments. The production, transport, and use of fossil gas generate greenhouse gas emissions, including methane.
Environmental human rights: links the protection of biodiversity and coastal ecosystems with the rights of the communities that depend on them.
Duty to provide justification and motivation: reinforces the obligation of the authorities to respond in a complete, legally supported and consistent manner to citizens' requests for environmental protection.
- Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Project, AC (ProDESC).
- Mexican Center for Environmental Defense AC (Northwest Environmental Defense - DAN).
- Presidency of the Republic.
- National Agency for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbons Sector (ASEA), a decentralized body of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat)
The Gulf of California is a region of exceptional ecological importance, internationally recognized for its high biodiversity, and home to numerous communities that depend directly on marine and coastal ecosystems for their livelihoods. This importance is reflected in the existence of 25 Natural Protected Areas, in addition to other state and municipal protected areas, along with other international protection schemes (UNESCO, Ramsar, etc.). Along with the marine and coastal areas, there are terrestrial zones of great ecosystemic importance, such as desert plains, grasslands, and mountainous areas of the Sierra Madre Occidental, which will be affected by the construction and operation of gas pipelines and other associated infrastructure.
International agreements/treaties
- Escazú Agreement
- Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
- Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention)
- Convention on Biological Diversity
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
- American Convention on Human Rights
- Protocol of San Salvador.
National laws
- Political Constitution of the United Mexican States
- General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection
- Law of the National Agency for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbons Sector
- Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration
- Energy Planning and Transition Law
Beginning
- Prevention
- Caution
- Progressiveness
- Due diligence
- Pro natura