Europe is doing it, Brazil is doing it, and now Mexico is doing it too. The country has passed a package of laws committing it to act on climate change. It is only the second developing nation to set greenhouse gas emissions cuts in the letter of the law.
The package promises to cut the country鈥檚 emissions by 30 per cent below 鈥渂usiness-as-usual levels鈥� by 2020 鈥� meaning 30 per cent below what they would be without any intervention 鈥� and by 50 per cent below 2000 levels by 2050. It is part of a slow trend for nations to tackle climate change on their own, in the absence of a United Nations treaty to cut emissions beyond 2012.
Since 2008, Mexico has been the world鈥檚 11th largest emitter. 鈥淔or a long time developing countries have been reluctant to commit to targets,鈥� says , director of energy and climate policy at Ecofys in Cologne, Germany. 鈥淭o see a country as important as Mexico passing a law is very encouraging.鈥�
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It鈥檚 not alone. In 2010, Brazil passed its into law, promising to , compared to 1990 levels.
South Korea鈥檚 government is currently an .
That鈥檚 not to say the UN process is pointless, says H枚hne, as these actions are largely knock-on effects of the international negotiations.
