The Mexican legislature has recently passed a climate change law. As reported in Nature, the new  that will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 30 percent below business-as-usual levels by 2020, and by 50 percent below 2000 levels by 2050. The law also mandates that Mexico will derive 35 percent of its electricity from renewable resources 2024. The climate change bill passed Mexico’s lower house with a vote of 128 for and 10 against and in the Senate the legislation passed unanimously.

The strong support in both the house and the Senate suggests the Mexico’s legislators are not concerned about the country’s fossil fuel industry. According to U.S. based petroleum consultancy DeGolyer and MacNaughton, the country sits on the world’s third-largest petroleum reserves.

This legislation is much needed as Mexico is both the world’s 11th largest economy and
11th largest GHG emitter.

The next hurdle will be ensuring that this legislation is acted upon. “We’re very good at making laws. And then the problem is enforcing them,” Juan Bezaury, a Mexican public policy expert with the Nature Conservancy, told Nature.

Original Article on The GREEN MARKET Blog