2:57 p.m., November 9, 2021
In what framework are you going to Glasgow (Scotland) for the COP26?
I was elected in October 2020 vice-president of Cités Unies France (CUF), an association [dirigée par François Rebsamen, NDLR] representing French communities engaged in international action and which is a member of the organization United cities and local governments (UCLG). The latter, a partner of the UN, makes the voice of more than 240,000 communities heard around the world during high-level meetings such as the COPs. It is in this context, and at the heart of this delegation, that I will be present in Glasgow. So I am going there to carry the word of local authorities in France and around the world.
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The decisions that will not be taken at the COP, we will have, as elected representatives, to manage the consequences tomorrow
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What message do you want to defend?
The legitimacy of elected officials to carry a strong message on climate change lies in the fact that we are on the front line to act in favor of its mitigation, via the renovation of buildings, the transition of mobility … The elected officials implement solutions at the local level to reduce our carbon impact. We will also be at the forefront of the issue of adaptation and crisis management. The decisions that will not be taken at the COP, we will have, as elected representatives, to manage the consequences tomorrow. We ask both that strong decisions be taken to reduce as much as possible the impact of climate change, but also that the means be given to manage the consequences on our territories.
Without mayors, is the fight against global warming impossible?
Not only should we not forget the mayors, but they have a legitimacy to be part of international climate governance. Of course, the COPs are above all negotiations between States, but the consequences of decisions – or non-decisions – will be up to us, mayors, to implement them concretely and to assume them. I will also carry the message of the necessary solidarity at the international level. Everyone will be affected by climate change, but some areas are more vulnerable than others. A number of countries are asking for recognition of the losses and damage already caused by climate change, which has so far been refused by states. However, as communities, this request seems legitimate to us.
In Glasgow, will you take part in the negotiations?
I hope to have the opportunity to speak in plenary. But the COP is also many meetings. I will participate in two round tables: on climate change at European level; and support for the most vulnerable countries and issues of resilience. I will also discuss with many networks, especially because the Glasgow City Hall mobilizes those of the local elected officials present. Thursday day [les négociations se terminent le vendredi, NDLR] is also dedicated to communities.
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Initially, this law was intended to allow the proposals of the citizens’ climate convention to be applied without filter; but in reality the filter is more than thick
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In France, the climate and resilience law gives more power to local communities (over advertising, wind power, mobility in particular). It’s not sufficient?
It’s true. But I would remind you that at the outset, this law was intended to allow the proposals of the citizens’ climate convention (CCC) to be applied without filter; but in reality the filter is more than thick. Yet the initial actions of the CCC were common sense. Today, when we want to act for the climate at the local level, we are extremely limited by the national framework. For example, one of our priorities is to implement a regional food plan that will allow us to relocate our food production and therefore reduce the carbon impact of our food. But the way in which the European common agricultural policy (CAP) is applied at the level of France does not at all encourage producers to move towards more short circuits or towards more reasoned practices. The citizens call on us because we are in charge, but the imposed national framework is not adapted to allow us to act up to the stakes.
Should the state take a step back and decentralize more?
Since my election, I have noticed the interdependence of the scales. We say a lot: “think global, act local”; except that acting locally without national decisions that establish a strong framework is not enough! I plead to give more resources to communities, and therefore to move towards more decentralization, in particular on the management of adaptation and resilience, but at the same time, we really need a national framework, in particular legal , which is strong.
How then to avoid being confronted with possible territorial disparities?
The differences that can be perceptible at the national level between environmental policies and others are much less so at the local level. I often have the opportunity to exchange with mayors of other political sensitivities regarding our responsibility for climate change and many solutions are shared. This is also why communities carry a message of hope: where States cannot agree, communities could. A sentence from Edouard Herriot, the founder of the Association of European Municipalities and Regions, founded in a context of post-war reconstruction and European construction, speaks to me a lot. He said: “Everything divides the States, but everything unites the communes.” He had already bet on the fact that the municipalities could be the ferment of the solidity of a collective construction on a European scale. What was true at the time on a European scale is also true on a global scale today.
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France, which I expected to be in a leadership position on these issues, does not go far enough in its commitments
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What is your view on the current negotiations and the first announcements of COP26?
There are a number of strong announcements: commitments to get out of deforestation, or coal. These are indeed major issues. Afterwards, the reliability of these commitments is questionable. Unfortunately, as often, States make commitments in principle without having an associated action plan. In these cases, it doesn’t work. France, which I expected to be in a leadership position on these issues, does not go far enough in its commitments, or even goes less far than other countries. While other countries are committed to phasing out fossil fuels, France considers at European level that gas is still part of green energies. In the French state’s approach to climate change, there are contradictions that seem to me to be harmful.
After the municipal elections, in July 2020 in Tours, you participated in the launch of the network of alliance of cities for the climate and social justice alongside Emmanuel Denis and Anne Hidalgo in particular. Where is this network at?
We continue to exchange views between cities, whether within the framework of France Urbaine (bringing together metropolises and large cities), or via a tight-knit network of environmental mayors. But the one that had been launched in Tours has not yet met in the same perimeter.
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