“No fight against climate change without freedom to act for local elected officials”

2024-01-06 05:00:17

Sf the fate of the climate will depend on our overall efforts on a global scale, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is also a local battle. We also do not appreciate the extent to which mayors are, and will be, the front-line foot soldiers of the country’s decarbonization.

The colossal but little-known weight of greenhouse gas emissions from public services is naturally the primary cause: if every French person emits on average 10 tonnes of CO₂ per inhabitant, 15% of these emissions are attributable to our local equipment and, first and foremost, to the buildings of local communities such as schools or gymnasiums. One and a half tonnes of CO₂ by French just for public services: it is almost as much as the annual emissions per capita of India! Respecting our climate commitments therefore requires rapid and massive decarbonization of the local public sector.

In the first line

Beyond public infrastructure, it is also in local public action that entire sources of more global carbon savings lie:

– in food, with the impact of school meals on consumption habits;

– in transport, with the development of qualitative and credible alternatives to individual thermal transport;

– and, obviously, in housing.

On these three main sources of carbon emissions in our country, it is local authorities that can bring about and initiate lasting changes.

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The urgency with which we must carry them out is no longer a matter of debate: the scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change clearly state that we have no chance of limiting the rise in average temperature. global to 1.5°C if emissions do not peak before 2025 and do not decrease by at least 50% by 2030 compared to 2019!

The slope is steep, the challenge is colossal, and the mayors will be, as often, on the front line. The climate investment effort of communities to achieve the objectives set by the national low carbon strategy (SNBC) is estimated at 12 billion euros per year between 2020 and 2030 by the Institute of Economics for the Climate, in order to to carry out the energy renovation of public buildings, the deployment of cycling facilities, the growth of rail and urban public transport, but also the development of urban heating networks, low-efficiency public lighting and a fleet decarbonized vehicles.

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