Axios Event: New Mexico stays steady on climate goals in the face of federal instability

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO – New Mexico is trying to keep its focus on climate targets despite the Trump administration's retreat from clean energy efforts, experts said.

Why it matters: The uncertain future of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and potential rollbacks threaten the progress the state has made on renewable energy sources like wind and sunlight.

Axios' Chuck McCutcheon and Nick Sobczyk spoke with Melanie Kenderdine, cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department; New Mexico Oil & Gas Association president and CEO Missi Currier, and New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard. The April 16 event was sponsored by Shell.

The big picture: New Mexico aims to be a national leader in clean energy with its 2019 Energy Transition Act, which sets a 50% statewide renewable energy standard by 2030 for investor-owned utilities and rural electric co-ops.

What they're saying: The Trump administration has made moves to halt any funding linked to clean energy projects, and some of those efforts have led to court fights.

• "We don't know yet what the impacts are going to be," Kenderdine said.
• New Mexico's Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department had received $400 million in federal funds in the last year, Kenderdine said.

Zoom in: "The Inflation Reduction Act money is very much in flux right now," Garcia Richard said.

• Waning federal support of renewable energy projects "really threatens all of the progress that New Mexico has made," she added.
• New Mexico's large expanses of undeveloped land have allowed the state to build almost 2,800 megawatts of renewably generated energy on state trust acreage, up from 400 megawatts in 2019.

What's next: As New Mexico straddles the line between being a renewable energy leader while supporting its oil and gas industries, Kenderdine said it is focused on implementing "sequenced" policies to get to net zero.

• "We are not going to be running the world on wind and solar tomorrow, OK? All forecasts, in all scenarios … they all show declining but substantial natural gas consumption out to 2050," Kenderdine said. "And New Mexico is no exception."

The clean energy and oil and gas industries are "already coexisting" in New Mexico, Currier said.

• "Natural gas is so important to the transition," she said. "So many of our producers are using renewable energies to electrify the field as well as to move forward."
• "That's something I think a lot of folks don't always understand, is that oil and gas and renewables do work incredibly well together."

Content from the sponsored segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Barbara Styko, Shell senior vice president of mobility for the Americas, said New Mexico's clean fuel standards could be a model for other states.

• "Here is a state that's really leaning into clean fuel standards and really trying to role model what that could look like," she said. "I think it's going to be the start of something that a lot of other people can learn from."