Climate Change Summit In Paris: 4 Latin American Countries That Are Leading The Fight Against Global Warming

Latin American countries are leading the global response to climate change in completely different ways at this week’s climate talks in Paris, also known as the 21st Conference of Parties or COP21. How will the world tackle climate change? Arguments persist between developed countries, who have polluted heavily for a long time, and developing countries, who are polluting more and more as standards of living rise in the global south. On the bright side, major emitters like China and the U.S. appear to be on board, promising more significant but also more realistic goals than the failed Kyoto talks of the 1990s.

Despite being developing countries themselves, South American nations find themselves all over the map in their approach. Some are reducing their use of fossil fuels. Others are promising to cut down less trees. Here are three Latin American countries to watch during the Paris talks. One interesting thing is that these 3 countries are not allied with each other in paris. In fact, each has a different climate agenda and are trying to steer the global warming negotiations in a different with a different coalition with a different agenda.

Mexico

Environmental Integrity Group (EIG) also includes Liechtenstein, Monaco, South Korea, and Switzerland

Mexico was the first developing country in the world to submit its voluntary goals ahead of the Paris talks, pledging in March to cap emissions by 2026. By offering up significant Co2 cuts, Mexico is attempting to show other emerging economies that preserving the planet long-term is worth their attention and resources.

Reducing emissions may have a cost to the economy, but so does allowing climate change to continue unchecked. For example, Mexican press have drummed up support for emissions cuts reporting widely a 2010 study that found Mexico City could be spending 7 percent of its GDP on global-warming related issues if the world’s average temperature rises by 2 degrees.

Brazil

BASIC group also includes South Africa, India, and China

Developing countries don’t want to spend money on climate initiatives when they could investing in lifting their people out of poverty. But Brazil is leaning on its largest climatic resource, the largest swath of the Amazon jungle, to show that it is committed to reducing emissions.

Despite weakening anti-deforestation laws in recent years, the country is pledging to cut down on logging, slashing and burning. If executed properly, the goals could essentially freeze Brazil’s emissions at the current rate.

The good news is that Brazil has actually followed through on some of its emission reduction promises in the past, and greatly expanded its renewable energy production. The bad news is that Brazil won’t stop deforestation, it will just destroy it more slowly.

Costa Rica

Independent Association of Latin American and the Caribbean (AILAC) includes Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama, and Peru

Like Brazil and Paraguay, Costa Rica has been leading the world in renewable energy production thanks to an abundance of hydropower. In fact, for a few months this year, the country produced 100 percent of its electricity without using fossil fuels.

Costa Rica has pledged to become carbon-neutral over the next decade, trying to reduce or at least offset emissions from transportation, which currently rely on gas. But at least the country is trying.

Chile

(AILAC)

Chile is already feeling the impact of climate change directly: warming temperatures are driving its wine industry south (just as they’re driving maple tapping north from Vermont into Quebec). For Chilean President Michelle Bachelet COP21 should be a start to more ambitious goals, because her country has a lot to lose.

“[Paris] is, I insist, the start of a path. Later other, more ambitious, measures will have to be adopted, to further reduce global temperatures,” Bachelet told IPS ahead of the talks.

Easier said than put into action from a country with low emissions that is not as dependent of fossil fuels. Some Latin American countries are struggling to find a way to place fossil fuel reduction on their economic agenda. For example, resistance from Venezuela and its oil-producing alliance are threatening to sink the climate accords.

Even with high and perfectly executed voluntary standards will be inadequate to preserve the world as we know it, as Vox points out, but could mark a significant improvement. Yet middle-income countries like Mexico and Brazil show that the 2015 Paris talks can be more impactful than some kind of “We Are The World” flop.

One (admittedly simplistic) measure of climate change is through global average temperatures. We’re currently close to a 1 degree Celsius increase, and the world is already suffering from increased weather patterns and sea rise. World leaders have agreed in previous meetings to keep the global temperature rise under 2°C.

Scientists predict that a rise above 3 or 4 degrees might not be be compatible with human life on earth. If successful, the Paris talks could pull climate change back from being apocalyptic to merely disastrous.