Mexico is poised to adopt a voluntary climate change law – The "General Law on Climate Change."
It breezed through the upper house in December with an overwhelming majority and passed the Senate easily yesterday. President Calderón will sign the law – he has made addressing climate change a national priority.
Mexico ranks #11 in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and is experiencing its worst drought in 80 years.
The bill sets a national goal of cutting emissions 50% below 2000 levels by 2050, requires the government to cut emissions 30% by 2020, and targets 35% of electricity from renewable energy by 2024.
Although voluntary, the bill sets the stage for long term policies to meet the targets. It establishes a permanent, high level Inter-secretarial Commission on Climate Change with the power to formulate and implement national policies, and establish and regulate a carbon market.
It has the power to introduce renewable energy incentives and to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
The bill creates a climate fund to collect and channel resources for initiatives that cut emissions and for adaptation.
It sets requirements for mandatory emissions reporting and the creation of a public registry that makes emissions transparent from power generation and use, transport, agriculture, stockbreeding, forestry and other land uses, solid waste, and industrial processes.
And it includes goals for states to reverse the trend of deforestation.
In January, President Calderón signed a formal agreement with the US to "advance towards a green economy" – Mexico Global Climate Change Program, a five-year, $70 million, program. The funding is for "quick-start financing for specific climate change actions, specifically reducing emissions and conserving forests.
Passing the climate change bill is considered one of the "non-controversial measures" being passed before July 1 national elections.
Mexico is one of eight countries to receive a $350,000 grant from the World Bank to assist in the design and implementation of a carbon market. Chile, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Thailand, and Turkey are developing "Market Readiness Proposals" which lays out how their cap & trade market will work. 15 countries in total will receive this funding.
Loading...
Recent research by Henrik Svensmark and his group at the Danish National
Space Center points to the real cause of the recent warming trend.
In a series of experiments on the formation of clouds, these scientists
have
shown that fluctuations in the Sun’s output cause the observed changes in
the Earth’s temperature.
In the past, scientists believed the fluctuations in the Sun’s output
were
too small to cause the observed amount of temperature change, hence the
need to look for other causes like carbon dioxide. However, these new
experiments show that fluctuations in the Sun’s output are in fact large
enough, so there is no longer a need to resort to carbon dioxide as the
cause of the recent warming trend.
The discovery of the real cause of the recent increase in the Earth’s
temperature is indeed a convenient truth. It means humans are not to blame
for the increase. It also means there is absolutely nothing we can, much
less do, to correct the situation.
Thomas Laprade
Thunder Bay
P7B5W2
Ph. 807 345-7258
Thomas, the recent CERN CLOUD results certainly do not establish the Sun or cosmic rays as the source of warming. In fact, here is what those scientists themselves wrote in their press briefing:
“This result leaves open the possibility that cosmic rays could also influence climate. However, it is premature to conclude that cosmic rays have a significant influence on climate until the additional nucleating vapours have been identified, their ion enhancement measured, and the ultimate effects on clouds have been confirmed.”
There is a great deal more to be proven in the inference chain for the Svensmark hypothesis to be accepted. Plus there is the fact that there has been no overall trend in cosmic rays in the last 60 years.
David, you wrote, “it is premature to conclude that cosmic rays have a significant influence on climate ” and I’d agree with you, but I also think it may be premature “to conclude that (human activities have had and will have) a significant (harmful) influence on the world’s climate.”
I may be wrong: I haven’t had the time to really look into the climate change arguments in real depth. But… I *have* seen how political activists have grossly distorted the flow of information to the public about smoking issues — particularly as concern the “dangers” of normal levels secondhand smoke exposure — and thus don’t have a lot of faith in the “Global Warming” warnings.
– MJM
Michael, with all due respect, until you *do* look at the arguments in detail, your claim has no substance and no merit. In fact, there is overwhelming evidence from several directions that human activities are now significantly influencing the climate. Recent climate changes simply can’t be explained without them. I recommend you read some sites by people who do follow what’s been done, such as http://davidappell.blogspot.com or http://www.skepticalscience.com
David, granted on the merit… which is why I made the disclaimer. 🙂 Maybe when I get a break in stirring my current pots of stew I’ll be able to move on to some new cookbooks.
:>
MJM
Take away agendas, one fact remains, man made climate change is a reality.