The Mexican government has adopted a new national climate change strategy that identifies the GHG Protocol-based Mexico GHG Program as the basis of a step-by-step approach to climate change mitigation. The strategy begins with voluntary GHG accounting and reporting, progresses to energy sector GHG caps, and culminates in a national cap-and-trade scheme linked to international GHG markets.

According to Secretary of Environment Juan Rafael Elvira in the Chicago Tribune, the Mexican government aims to “promote this new political approach that Mexico has to combat climate change and – why not – be an example as a nation, an approach that many other countries can follow.”

The National Strategy for Climate Change was launched by Mexican President Felipe Calderon on May 25, 2007. The document describes mitigation opportunities and possible emission reductions, proposes studies and research for defining more precise mitigation goals, and indicates the needs for advancing in the capacity-building for climate change adaptation.

The National Strategy provides the basis for the elaboration of the Climate Change Special Program in forthcoming months, which will include specific actions, policies and strategies.

The Mexico GHG Program objectives are particularly aligned and compatible with two lines of climate action for the energy sector:

1. To develop GHG performance standards and baselines for the main GHG sources and activities in Mexico.

2. To account GHG emissions and develop reduction projects in public and private companies that participate in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or in other carbon markets.

The Executive Summary of the National Strategy for Climate Change is available on line at http://www.semarnat.gob.mx/Documents/Estrat_nal_Sintesis.pdf.

Leticia Ozawa, SEMARNAT, contributed to this article

Photo: mlhradio/Flickr