Mexico has passed its own very strict climate change law.

The new law contains many sweeping provisions to mitigate climate change, including a mandate to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 30% below business-as-usual levels by 2020, and by 50% below 2000 levels by 2050. Furthermore, it stipulates that 35% of the country’s energy should come from renewable sources by 2024, and requires mandatory emissions reporting by the country’s largest polluters.

Some predictions:

• Mexico’s economy will go in the tank in the coming years because of this.
• Immigration (legal and illegal) to the United States will continue to increase as people flee this disaster.
• The law’s mandates will largely not be achievable.
• And whatever mandates are achieved, they will make no measurable difference to the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

I find it sad how many legislators worldwide have bought into this silliness. You can’t mandate these kinds of technological changes. They have to evolve, based on competition and innovation. And they can only happen if the economics encourage it. Just because a group of Mexican lawmakers demand that something be done is no guarantee that it is possible.

In fact, it is more unlikely, considering how rarely common sense is used as a basis for action by most government officials.