Mexico pledges 50 percent cut in greenhouse gases

Mexico announced a plan Thursday to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 using solar power, wind and other clean technologies - making it one of the few developing countries to set a specific emissions reduction target.

Mexico's Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira said he hoped plan would challenge other countries to take strong action against emissions and also help Mexico with the investment funds needed to meet the goal.

Mexico's aim to cut 2002 levels by 50 percent by mid century, he said, is meant to spur "collective" global action on fighting climate change.

He and his deputy, Fernando Tudela, announced the goal at U.N. climate talks in Poznan, Poland, where some 190 countries are working on a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The aim is to get a deal next December at U.N. talks in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Mexican officials also announced a plan to set up a cap-and-trade system that would set emissions limits on certain sectors, such as cement, electricity and oil refining, which account for the vast majority of their emissions. Companies that reduce their emissions below those limits could sell their unused allowances on the international carbon market.

Mexico hopes to have the program operating by 2012.

"This is a very aggressive goal for our country, but we are confident we can achieve it with international assistance," Tudela said.

The plan makes Mexico the only developing country to set a voluntary national target below current levels, said Antonio Hill, senior policy adviser for Oxfam. South Korea has said it would announce a cap next year, and South Africa has a detailed plan to peak emissions in 2025.

Donald Pols, a climate expert with the environment group WWF International, praised Mexico's step.

"It's good because it puts pressure on the process," Pols said, but warned it would only bring change if the complicated scheme of selling credits on the international market is profitable.

"As a political gesture, it's important," said Elliot Diringer of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "If it translates into legislation, it will be even more significant."

Environmentalists at the talks have strongly criticized some of the world's richest countries, saying they have done too little to battle global warming.

But many developing countries, including Brazil, China, South Africa, and now Mexico, have been winning praise for offering specific plans to fight climate change.