Mexico Approves Updated Climate Commitment Ahead of COP30

Mexico’s Inter-Ministerial Commission on Climate Change (CICC), approved the country’s third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) during its first Extraordinary Session of 2025. The updated climate plan will be presented at the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belem do Pará, Brazil.

The NDC 3.0 outlines Mexico’s climate action goals through 2035 across five key areas: mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, means of implementation and enabling conditions, and cross-cutting climate policy. The update fulfills the Paris Agreement requirement for countries to submit a new or revised contribution every five years.

Under the mitigation component, Mexico set new greenhouse gas (GHG) emission caps for all economic sectors. The conditional target, dependent on international cooperation, limits emissions to between 332 and 363Mtof CO₂ equivalent (MtCO₂e), while the unconditional target, based on domestic efforts, ranges between 364 and 404 MtCO₂e. Both represent significant reductions from current levels of about 583 MtCO₂e.

Adaptation measures were strengthened across five previously established areas, communities and territories, productive systems, resilient ecosystems and food security, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and water resources and infrastructure, along with a new axis linking climate change and security to address potential socio-environmental conflicts.

For the first time, the NDC includes a loss and damage component, focused on addressing unavoidable climate impacts. It proposes measures such as response protocols for extreme weather events, risk transfer mechanisms like parametric insurance, and strategies for managing climate-induced migration.

Cross-cutting priorities in NDC 3.0 include gender equality, human rights, just transition for workers, and intergenerational equity. The document emphasizes attention to vulnerable groups, including women, Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant communities, children, youth, and persons with disabilities.

The plan also introduces a section on enabling conditions and implementation means, aimed at removing regulatory and coordination barriers, mobilizing resources, and strengthening institutional capacity.

According to Alice Bárcena, Minister of Environment, NDC 3.0 reflects a renewed commitment to just and inclusive climate action grounded in scientific evidence. She highlighted the technical support provided by the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), which collaborated with international and national partners to model decarbonization pathways and map climate risks.

The NDC 3.0 was developed through a broad participatory process involving over 50 federal agencies, 30 intergovernmental meetings, 18 thematic workshops, and consultations with civil society, private sector, academia, subnational governments, and Indigenous communities.