Fossil fuel subsidy reform is a peculiar case for Mexico. Policies for the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies (FFS) at a national level are complex. Their tackling involves work in the economic, social and environmental policy sectors. Their complexity is partially driven from the fact that Mexico is an oil producing country. The domestic oil refineries fall short in meeting the national fuel demands. Hence the need to import gasoline and diesel to fill the gap in fuel supply.
While the birth of the Durban Platform, the possible renewal of the Kyoto Protocol, and the controversy over the unfilled Green Climate Fund have dominated most of the headlines, I’ve been keeping an eye on the Reducing Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation program, or REDD.
A group of three deputies and one senator from the Mexican Congress came to Doha. Their interest is in the legislative efforts at the national level across countries. They spoke about the Mexican experience.
As the COP18 in Doha cranks along into its second week, onlookers follow the proceedings and ponder how the results of continued negotiation will affect them. Frustrated environmental activists bemoan the slow progress made by the UNFCCC over the past two decades and call for more ambitious action, industry groups look out for any changes in emissions reduction targets or country stances that will affect their bottom line, and journalists search for stories amid a mass of bureaucratic wrangling.
Humans have a morbid fascination with the end of the world. Our undying affection for the zombie meme, our preoccupation with the Mayan calendar, and that awesome Eschaton scene in Infinite Jest all point to a weird fixation with our own demise.
“The world is reacting too late to reduce global warming and to prevent or mitigate the effects of climate change” Mr. Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico, in his address to the first plenary session of the XXII Ibero-American summit November 17, 2012.
If you think the upcoming Doha Climate Conference will be full of yet more uneventful climate diplomatic fanfare, think again. The Guardian recently reported that the US may be considering diverting substantive elements of climate change governance away from the long-e
New Zealand’s government announced in a statement on Nov.9 that it is not in the country’s interests to be “stuck in the Kyoto space for another eight years”, only a few weeks before nations will meet in Doha for the next round of climate negotiations.
