The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) has authorized a 400 million U.S. dollars loan to Mexico's Environment Ministry to address climate change, the bank said Friday.

It is the third tranche of lending that began in 2008. Once the loan is disbursed, the bank will have a total of 1.2 billion dollars lent to Mexico for climate change projects.

"This lending supports the regulatory framework at federal and state level," the IADB representative in Mexico, Ellis Juan, said in a press conference.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who took office in 2006, has ordered the nation to implement greenhouse gas emissions plans as part of a commitment to reduce 50 million tons of emissions a year by the end of his presidency.

Juan said he considers financing is essential in creating a green and environmentally conscious society over the next 20 years. He said that 68 percent of carbon dioxide emissions are produced by the energy and transport industries, which will need massive investment to clean up.

The International Atomic Energy Agency estimated that around 18 trillion dollars, or 1.5 percent of the world's gross domestic product, will be needed for the next 20 years to keep the global temperature within 2 degrees of 1990 levels.

"It is impossible to evolve into a green society without financial mechanisms that can support such investment," he added.

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