Mexico moves to combat pollution following Guardian investigations

Northern Monterrey, Mexico, where pollution concerns have sparked scrutiny, with the Zinc Nacional plant at the center of ongoing environmental debates, on 13 September 2024. Photograph: Bernardo De Niz

The Mexican government has announced it will pursue a sweeping array of tactics to combat industrial pollution, from $4.8m in fines against a plant processing US hazardous waste to the rollout of a new industrial air-monitoring system, following investigations by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, a Mexican investigative unit.

Those stories revealed high levels of heavy-metal contamination in the neighborhood around the factory, Zinc Nacional, in the Monterrey metropolitan area, and showed the broader extent of industrial pollution in the region, linked to Monterrey’s role in manufacturing and recycling goods for the US market.