Following Mexico's green steps

Mexico's bold approach to climate change is a lesson for Latin American, and the UK can benefit from being closely involved

Chris Bryant
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 September 2009 12.00 BST
It has been raining here in Mexico. It's that time of year. But over the last few years, the droughts have been getting worse. And a couple of weeks ago, floods swept through Mexico City. It seems like a contradiction, but often the droughts harden the land so that it can't absorb the heavy rains when they come. And that's when the floods take everything in their wake. The thousands who suffered in the UK from flooding two years ago – including my constituents in the Rhondda – know this only too well.
It's not the only kind of flooding Latin America has to worry about. There are 66 cities in Latin America and the Caribbean that will be flooded if sea levels rise, as predicted, due to climate change. And in the sierras, the problem is compounded with millions depending for clean water and hydroelectric power on glaciers that are melting away.
That is why I'm in Mexico: to see how they are tackling the problem of dangerous climate change and the leadership Mexico is providing across the region.
Like the UK, Mexico recognises the serious threat climate change poses to people's lives. They know that unchecked global warming would seriously damage the progress they have made on poverty, crime and economic development – and that it would prevent tomorrow's generation from reaching their potential.
Mexico has already taken steps to reduce its carbon use. One example I've seen is the introduction of low-emission buses as part of a zero-emissions transport corridor in Mexico City. It's a proposal that the UK has supported and is keen to see work in a city that has traditionally suffered from pollution.
The Mexican government has also proposed the setting up of a Green Fund under the UN. Its aim is to create a finance infrastructure that would provide significant flows of finance to developing countries – enabling them to combat the effects of climate change and continue their economic development.
I believe it's quite right that developed nations support less developed ones to tackle dangerous climate change. This can't be about rich countries telling less-developed countries that they cannot progress. The poorest people stand to lose most if we do not tackle harmful emissions. But we must also recognise the real economic opportunity within the reach of every country, rich or poor, to develop clean, green new technologies and ways of doing business.
The shift that Mexico is making towards a more sustainable economic model is likely to be replicated around the world in the coming years. This presents huge business opportunities for the UK as we emerge from recession.
Britain is known for its cutting-edge scientists, engineers and blue-sky thinkers. Now more than ever, such skills are in demand the world over. UK businesses with vision and ingenuity can be the ones offering low carbon technologies for an increasing number of green collar workers.
But new technology can only be a part of the solution. It would be folly to rely solely on finding a scientific magic wand to make global warming disappear. Dangerous climate change is a global problem that requires a global political solution – which means we must get the right deal in Copenhagen this December.
Countries like Mexico, prepared to take bold steps to cut emissions, are vital if we are to get the deal we all need. Mexico doesn't share the West's historic responsibility for global warming, but knows they share a responsibility to tackle it. This is an approach that we hope others will follow.
In just 80 days' time, the world's leaders will gather in Copenhagen. The deal they reach will be, in effect, a letter to the next generation. Will it be one full of excuses for failing to act, or one that says: "This is what we did to protect your future"?
Earlier this year, leaders like Presidents Calderón of Mexico and Lula of Brazil worked closely to ensure a worldwide package of economic reform and fiscal stimulus which, under Gordon Brown's leadership, steered the global economy away from depression. The same leadership from Latin America is needed in the next two months over climate change.