Sitting in a solemn and highly symbolic : on Sunday afternoon, the ‘Convention’ for the climate, will gather one last time at the palais d’iéna, in Paris, to submit to the executive to the fruit of his work… His 150 proposals have been, Friday and Saturday, a final time, amended, passed, and finally classified according to the fate that their authors imagine : texts of regulations, projects of law, or measures that can be submitted to a referendum.
It is not yet known if Emmanuel Macron will move itself to take delivery of it. But the members of the Convention have not forgotten the promise the president had made in January : submitting a “no filter” their proposals, to the extent that they are consistent with the Constitution and provide funding for their implementation. “If the president of the Republic announcement of the guidelines around the 14 July, it would be desirable that it integrates this work,” hope Laurence Tubiana, co-chair of the governance committee.
social Justice
At the Elysée palace, where phosphorus from weeks to imagine an “act II” of the quinquennium ambitious on the front green, these proposals are expected as a lifeline. Because no one has forgotten the context in which was born this Agreement, in the wake of the revolt of the yellow Vests who, in the fall of 2018, had followed the increase of the carbon tax on fuel, levied by the more modest ones such as a hype tax.
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A year later, the road map set by the Prime minister to the 150 citizens drawn at random (and representative of the French company) was clear : to develop proposals for structuring of nature to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030, but in a spirit of standing for social justice. “This notion of social justice has driven the Convention of end-to-end,” said Thierry Pech, his other co-chair. The ” 150 ” will they be able to build a corpus of measures, both really effective, but also socially acceptable and economically viable, likely to be accepted by the greatest number ?
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Many have taken a slap in the face, they couldn’t know that the situation was also serious. A few climatosceptiques were more in the third session.
For ten months, these citizens come from all walks of life have heard 138 experts and digested thousands of pages of reports. “After the speech of Valérie Masson-Delmotte [climatologist and co-chair of group 1 of the Ipcc, ED], we had tears,” says Laurence Tubiana. “Many have taken a slap in the face, they couldn’t know that the situation was also serious. A few climatosceptiques were more in the third session. “
But this awareness has been largely used, according to the participants, the search for consensus. “It may be what was missing until now,” said Gregory Fraty, one of the draw. “Our exchanges were really friendly, transpartisans. We are not reinventing the powder, but the fact that we all agreed on these measures, it is a sign that they may be accepted. And it can help, yes, to a systemic change. “
The “packages” of proposals
The 150 proposals that emerged from the work of five thematic groups – housing, travelling, food, consume, produce, and work – are designed to meet the goal set in the roadmap. Fifty, transmitted to the government during the crisis of the Covid-19, has already filtered into the press, and could be taken over by the executive. On the building, for example, identified as a priority by Emmanuel Macron, the citizens propose to make mandatory the energy renovation overall of 20 million housing units by 2040, and 2030 for the 5 million “strainers thermal” (labeled F and G for their low-energy performance.)
Enacted in November 2019, the law, energy, climate lays down the requirement of work from 2028, but with goals much less ambitious. The Élysée palace, we are already preparing to ” tighten the requirements “. “Measures that are difficult to get across to owners will be better accepted if they have received the stamp of popular,” says an adviser to the castle. Citizens have sometimes exceeded their mandate, going forward “packages” of proposals, tax measures, incentives, sanctions etc. But also social measures or training. “When we speak of the construction sector, one key necessarily to the training of professionals,” says Gregory Fraty. So, yes, it’s more steps, but they are only one ambition. “
Laws, regulations, or referendum ?
Among the other proposed areas, to restrictions imposed in the commons in order to compel them to reduce urban sprawl (the construction of individual houses being the first cause of biodiversity loss), incentives for the development of the electric car and mobility, the “soft” (the individual car represents 16 % of the emissions), the tracks to limit the sales of SUV’s and cars too heavy… But the citizens can also be found in societal changes, proposing, among other things, to curb over-consumption by prohibiting the advertising of products the more emitters of greenhouse gases.
In total, a third of the 150 measures will be presented Sunday in the form of a text of the law (or regulatory), written by a committee draft of legislation, to allow their immediate recovery by the public authorities… that will be the last word on their fate : some of which will be submitted to the debate (and the vote) of Parliament, other be the subject of a referendum.
A white stone for the future
The deadlocks ? While the fight against global warming requires a massive electrification of transport, industry, tertiary, etc, to replace the sources of carbon energy (electrification rate, less than 30 % globally today, should reach 70 % by 2050, according to the national strategy of low carbon), the members of the Convention have not raised the issue of nuclear power, a source of clean energy that the government has decided to reduce the availability of closing 14 reactors by 2035. “Too much cleaving. “
Many of their measures, in spite of their efforts, are not funded, having disposed of the time and expertise required. The government will be able to hide behind this argument to reject certain actions ? “It shall be the judge, ahead of Thierry Pech. It is also necessary to think about the fact that these proposals have been developed in a context prior to the health crisis. If, in the light of the economic circumstances present, he considers that it is necessary to reduce the ambitions, he will have to explain. “
The 150 citizens were, in any case no intention of letting it lose their jobs. More than half of them intend to join together in an association, to ensure the monitoring of the Convention and to make available to the public all of their debates and their reflections. “We are confident that our proposals will be transmitted to the whole of the French, for this to become a common good,” explains Grégoire Marty. The rejected proposals and the reasons for which they have been, will also be made public, in order to feed the debate in the coming months.
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