Wow, what a weekend! We celebrated Mexico’s Independence Day by launching Expats In Mexico on September 16th and thousands of you from Mexico, the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world joined the fiesta. A big muchas gracias to all of you expats in Mexico and aspiring expats, wherever you are.
Today, I’d like to tell you about Mexico’s biggest step to date in helping to protect its environment and slow down global climate change.
Last week, Mexico formally ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change, bringing the total number of countries committed to slowing the warming of the earth to 60. Those 60 countries represent nearly 50 percent of all emissions globally, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a New York City-based, non-profit international environmental advocacy group.
By ratifying the agreement, Mexico is now committed to:
1. Unconditionally reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 22 percent and black carbon emissions by 51 percent by 2030. With International assistance, the NRDC says, these cuts could grow to 36 percent for gas emissions and 70 percent for carbon.
2. Peaking net emissions from 2026 and reducing emissions per unit of GDP by about 40 percent from 2013 to 2030.
3. Taking a number of adaptation measures to lessen the vulnerability of communities to climate change and to help mitigate climate impacts on ecosystems, infrastructure and productive systems.
A big part of this is a commitment to achieve zero percent deforestation by 2030. The NRC concludes that Mexico will need to place emphasis on further regulation of its fossil fuel industry and development of its renewable energy business. With abundant sunshine and wind in Mexico, it just makes sense.
Of the 197 nations committed to the Paris Agreement, just over a third have ratified the agreement to date. At the G-20 economic summit in early September, the U.S. and China, the two biggest polluters in the world, announced they would ratify the agreement, hopefully by the end of this year.
Mexico has taken a big step to help ensure a cleaner environment for its people and guests. Now, let’s get down to work.
If you have something on your mind, let me know in our comments section. I’m always looking for topics of interest from you.
Hasta proxima semana, amigos.
