Initial situation
Learning by Doing (LBD) is a multidisciplinary €3 million project to be implemented between 2020 and 2023 in Mexico, South Africa, Lebanon, and the Dominican Republic, together with a Latin American regional component, seeking to contribute to increasing the ambition of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The project aims to design an iterative methodology based on incremental improvement to outline and refine projects, policies, multilateral actions, as well as visions and transitions toward resilient and sustainable societies in a 2–1.5°C world. It seeks to illustrate the economic, social, and cultural characteristics of these societies and equip them with country-specific projects, activities, knowledge, and new skills to support their realization by 2050. At the same time, the project establishes learning platforms that include knowledge dissemination and learning at multiple levels.
In Mexico, the project will be implemented by the Mexico Climate Initiative (ICM) and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). It will involve asking questions about what constitutes a “good life” and exploring how to pursue a meaningful and valuable life in specific spaces and stages of life.
To achieve this, the Mexican team is working with a “General Equilibrium Model” with the objective of outlining the potential distribution of gains and losses associated with the transition to 2–1.5°C and examining how those who lose out could benefit in other ways. The teams are also working on the institutional aspects of these transitions and visions, including the role of central and local governments, as well as the participation of decentralized governance around natural resources, in which states are additional actors.
Mexico will also participate in an open dialogue with other partner countries exploring mitigation and adaptation synergies, nature-based solutions, and circular carbon economies, among other topics. The project will build on these experiences to create university-level courses, seminars, and activities in collaboration with different Mexican universities and initiatives, generating broader opportunities for learning and skills development.
