Five years ago, Mexico was the first developing country to submit a plan to reduce carbon emissions, led by the landmark Paris Agreement. Last month, they joined climate recalcitrants like Russia and Brazil, failing to step up efforts to fight global warming.

Mexico’s update proposal to the UN proposes two years of environmental back-sliding under nationalist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Members of the Paris Agreement are expected to raise their targets every five years, but Mexico instead set a target of cutting emissions by 22% by 2030, more than usual for business.

The decision encapsulates the approach AMLO has taken toward the environment since coming to power in a landslide victory in 2018. He’s cut the knees off a booming renewables market, ploughed money into Pemex, and pursued two major infrastructure projects that environmentalists consider ecological disasters.

The government’s stance has been “emissions be damned, environment be damned, air quality be damned,” said Jeremy Martin, vice president for energy and sustainability at the Institute of the Americas. “There’s just not anything you can point me to that makes me feel confident in its ability to be anything other than poor stewards of their environment and emissions profile.”