By Mica Rosenberg

MEXICO CITY, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Mexico aims to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by around 15 percent and wants to increase carbon trading as part of a global push to combat climate change, the environment minister said on Wednesday.

The country has a plan to cut the amount of carbon dioxide it releases into the atmosphere by between 75 million and 110 million tonnes a year, Environment Minister Juan Rafael Elvira told reporters.

The low end of the goal could be reached by 2012, as the government converts coal and fuel oil power plants to natural gas, improves efficiency at the state-run oil company and replaces old diesel buses and trucks with cleaner vehicles.

Mexico, whose belching factories and choking traffic have placed it 14th on the world's list of top polluters, currently emits about 650 million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide, a gas blamed for a large role in global warming.

The government will unveil a detailed long-term plan for energy efficiency in February, which will include expanded carbon trading programs that allow rich-nation polluters to fund emission reduction projects in developing countries.

Under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, or CDM, countries like Mexico can earn money selling carbon credits on the international market.

Mexico has invested some $100 million in more than 100 CDM projects and says it has been able to offset 7.4 million tonnes of carbon pollution through the scheme.

"For every new project we implement we are going to look for funding through the Clean Development Mechanism and the carbon markets," Elvira said.

The minister will travel to Poznan, Poland, this week, joining delegates from 190 countries to work on a new climate treaty and backs the creation of a "Green Fund" to help poor nations pay for environmentally sensitive projects.

"If international funds to prevent the destruction of forests are created through this negotiation, we will take advantage of that," Elvira said.

The government has invested heavily in programs to pay rural Mexicans to preserve native forests instead of cutting down trees for lumber, and an aggressive program to plant new trees has slowed deforestation, he said.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

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