“There are temperatures that are already 2.3 degrees higher than the pre-industrial era, it’s enormous. This raises the question of our survival, of the habitability of our cities, of the planet. » By presenting the Climate plan of the City of Paris, its mayor, Anne Hidalgo, set the tone. We will have to “act quickly and go even further”, despite some good news: local emissions in Paris have decreased by 36% since 2004, and the city has not remained still: nearly 10 billion euros have been spent on the climate since 2014, assures Anne Hidalgo, who wants to accelerate in particular on the energy renovation of buildings.
“This is the biggest financial trade-off, with 350 million euros invested in 2023 to renovate social housing (a quarter of which will be spent by the city, i.e. 70 million, the rest by social landlords),” explains Jacques. Baudrier, housing and building renovation assistant. Logical, since the building is the leading sector in terms of local greenhouse gas emissions, with 72% of local emissions in the territory, according to this new climate plan. 60,000 social housing units have already been renovated or are in the process of being renovated, out of a total of 250,000, with a current objective of nearly 5,000 per year (and on average more than 4,200 actually completed in 2022). But it is on the private sector front that the Climate Plan presented Wednesday at the town hall wants to accelerate. Among the 500 measures to “achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and thus respect the objectives of the Paris Agreement”, Dan Lert, the deputy for ecological transition, in charge of the climate plan, announces that he wants to “triple or even quintuple the number of private homes that will be renovated.
How to go from 2,000 to… 40,000 renovated homes
Today, only 2,000 to 2,500 private homes undergo energy renovation work each year in Paris, whereas 40,000 would be needed by 2030 to respect the trajectory of the Paris agreements, drawn up in the National Strategy. carbon of France. “This is far from meeting the colossal challenges,” criticizes Valérie Montandon, of the Changer Paris group. “We do a lot more than anywhere else, if there were a renovation Olympics, we would win the gold medal! answers Jacques Baudrier. We will increase to 10,000 to 12,000 projects per year, by 2026. Afterwards we will have to multiply by three or four by 2030. » A project which seems titanic, the “construction site of the century” according to Anne Hidalgo.
To initially guarantee this large-scale jump from 2,000 to 10,000 renovated private homes, the town hall is relying on the boom in registrations on its Coachcopro platform, the Paris Town Hall’s energy renovation support platform. Already, last December, the Paris Climate Agency, which manages it, indicated that it had “ten times more” registrations than the previous year for the same month. “We are seeing much greater interest compared to four or five years ago and even compared to a year ago. We are experiencing a complete surge in the use of our service, it is multiplied by seven compared to two years ago and by ten compared to ten years ago,” relates Frédéric Delhommeau, housing and renovation director of the agency. .
Remains at zero charge
“We are going to ensure that each modest co-owner can have a zero balance,” said Dan Lert during the conference presenting the climate plan. This is already almost the case, specifies Jacques Baudrier, in particular thanks to the increase in state aid via MaprimeRenov and the exemption from property tax decided for these co-owners by the Paris City Hall, which are added to the existing aid.
To go even further, the town hall concedes that it needs to remove certain obstacles linked to the cumbersome decision-making processes within co-ownerships. “We ask that there be no longer a blocking minority that is possible,” details 20 minutes Emmanuel Grégoire, the first deputy. It is also necessary, according to the town hall, to better inform the co-owners, which is why Anne Hidalgo intends to bring together all the trustees next week to ask them to sign a charter of reciprocal commitments, with the aim of information being presented each year during general meetings. “There are trustees who have caused their co-owners to lose the possibility of being exempt from property tax because they did not inform them in time,” laments Anne Hidalgo.
More extensive renovations for nurseries and schools
On the social housing front, the town hall does not intend to accelerate the pace. On the other hand, she wants to continue the work on nurseries and schools, which will enter a new phase. While the work was previously carried out in the summer, during holiday periods, the future work, heavier and involving all areas of the renovation, will require closing the schools and nurseries concerned for one or two years. . The objective is to renovate around thirty schools and ten nurseries in this way each year.
“Until now, we have made the easiest buildings, those with which we could easily gain gigawatts. But we are reaching a situation in which if we continue with schools that operate all year round, we will not be able to meet our objectives, given the complexity of the projects. Before it was artisanal, today we are moving to full industrial mode,” explains Jacques Baudrier.
Help for the top floors in danger during heatwaves
Finally, and this is undoubtedly the real novelty in these announcements in terms of energy renovation, the town hall has announced new assistance, currently being developed, intended for occupants of housing at the top levels. Called “1,000 anti-overheating roofs”, this aid would allow people most exposed to heatwaves to carry out insulation work, even though Paris is singled out as the deadliest city in Europe in the event of a heatwave. 80% of the roofs in Paris are made of zinc, and these metal roofs become real ovens when the sun beats down, particularly for those who live just below In periods of very high heat, living under the roof increases the risk of mortality by four, according to a study on the 2003 heatwave. “75% of the solar impact is on the top floor, insulating roofs is a major health problem,” confirms Jacques Baudrier, who claims to be working on a service for those who would only like to renovate on this aspect – there.
The town hall also plans to paint 40,000 square meters of roofs white, to reduce the effect of overheating on these roofs. The technique is inexpensive and has already proven its effectiveness.