“It is now high time to make our response to climate change operational”

To respect the commitments of the European law on the climate adopted a year ago already, France will have to lower its emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) of 4.7% per year over the current decade. This is more than twice the current rate of our effort. The average for the 2010 decade was around 1.7%. “Twice as much is not nothing. But it is absolutely doableassures us Corinne Le Quéré, climatologist and President of the High Council for Climate (HCC). The ideas are there. The tools too. We know what to do. It is now high time to make our response to climate change operational. »

This is the whole spirit of the fourth annual report of the High Council for the Climate published today. He calls to “go beyond the findings to implement the solutions”. For more than ten years, emissions from France have been falling. Over the 2019-2021 period and despite a partial post-Covid rebound, the decline continued at a rate of 1.9%. This is where we are. “But the urgency has accelerated. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pointed it out. The effects of global warming intensify »points out Corinne Le Quéré.

And this is not happening on the other side of the world. This is happening in France. extremes of heat, droughts, torrential rains. For the first time, the HCC report presents weather events over the past year and “whose probability of occurrence or intensity has been accentuated by anthropogenic climate change”.

“Looking back on these events gives an idea of ​​what we are going to have to adapt to.explains the president of the HCC. Because the global warming will continue. Until we reach the carbon neutrality. That is to say, in the best case, for another 20 or 30 years. And the effects of this warming are very variable depending on the region. Their geography or their economy. We must be fully aware of this when implementing operational solutions. »

Become operational

The word comes up again and again in the mouth of Corine Le Quéré. “We insist a lot on that, indeed. To get there, we need to scale up. Operate all the levers at our disposal. » And the good news is that there are plenty of levers. For example, the one that has been talked about more and more often for some time: sobriety. “It is the lever the least mobilized by the State, for the moment. It’s not necessarily the one with the most potential. But it must be actioned. To support others. »

In the context of the war in Ukraine that we are currently experiencing, for example. “This crisis is forcing the government into an urgent response that must protect our society. But it is absolutely necessary to ensure that, among the emergency measures, those which go against carbon neutrality, remain very temporary”, points out the president of the High Council for the Climate. One thinks in particular of the tariff shields decided by the State a few months ago now. Or the choice to restart the plant at coal Émile-Huchet of Saint-Avold (Moselle) from herewinter next.

“We must also be attentive to measures that could lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the long term. » Thus gas replacement fossil by liquefied natural gas (LNG). Because the use of the second emits more carbon dioxide (CO₂) than the use of the first. “Replacing fossil gas with LNG makes it possible, to a certain extent, to secure supplies. But in order not to harm the climate in the long term, the measure must necessarily be accompanied by a reduction in consumption. » The famous sobriety.

Sobriety at all levels

One that also avoids what specialists call the rebound effect. “There has been a lot of effort to renovation building energyemphasizes for us Corinne Le Quéré. Efforts that would have borne even more fruit if they had been, on the one hand, carried out with a more global vision, and on the other hand, accompanied by advice on sobriety. » Because if we expected lower heating consumption thanks to better insulated houses, the reality is quite different. Some prefer to take advantage of higher indoor temperatures. Even if it means always consuming so muchenergy than before. The rebound effect.

“Sobriety measures can be taken in all sectors. The government could, for example, regulate advertisements that encourage excessive consumption. So advertising for SUV. These vehicles emit a lot of CO₂ and most of us don’t need a car of this size for his daily trips. Ads could, on the contrary, encourage more low-carbon choices. »

A power of injunction

To implement all these ideas, the High Council for the Climate had called for placing the issue under the direct responsibility of the Prime Minister. “For a few weeks, it’s been done. And this should finally make it possible to plan the solutions that exist in all sectors. To penetrate the whole of our society in a much more exhaustive way. Put the machine in motion. That all actors – whether public or private, whether at national or very local level – know what role they have to play, what options are open to them, what sources of funding they can request, etc. »

The HCC also expects the new General Secretariat for Ecological Planning to have, not only the financial and human resources to work, but also, “the means to request, to demand, even, actions on the part of the other arms of the administration. That he has a real power of injunction. Because we don’t need one more team to brief the Prime Minister, we need a team that has the clout to get things done.”concludes Corinne Le Quéré.