“Last year, there were just over 60,000 comprehensive renovations in France. At this rate, it would take a thousand years to achieve the objectives set for 2050 by the Climate and Resilience Law. In one sentence, Yves Contassot summarized the main motivation for the creation of Grand Paris Climat.
Present this Wednesday afternoon at the headquarters of the Métropole du Grand Paris (MGP), the president of the Alternative Ecologist, Social and Citizen Group at the MGP, has just been elected, unanimously, president during the founding general assembly of this new association. “The objective of Grand Paris Climat is to coordinate local energy and climate agencies (ALEC) of the territory”, explains the new president.
Harmonize the Alecs
The ALECs are associations created by local authorities and their groups to carry out activities of general interest promoting, at the local level, the implementation of the energy transition and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Their main mission is to support individuals, professionals and local authorities in their energy renovation initiatives on the legal, financial and technical levels. In particular, they help players reduce their energy expenditure while reducing their carbon footprint.
“We had asked ourselves the question of creating Alecs in different sectors, explains Philippe Ollier, president of the MGP, but we did not want to replace the existing structures which were doing a remarkable job. On the advice of Yves Contassot, the MGP then decided to participate in the creation of a structure that would make it possible to make the link between these different Alecs.
Weigh more on institutions
“Not all of them have the same means and the same tools. For example, they do not use the same software or the same methods. We come to help them harmonize this system to make their work more efficient and understandable for the beneficiaries”, explains Yves Contassot, dubbed by Philippe Ollier for his experience in the field of sustainable development and the environment (He was notably deputy to the Mayor of Paris in charge of the environment, cleanliness, green spaces and waste treatment from 2008 to 2014, then President of the Paris Climate Agency).
This pooling of forces by the association hopes to create new firepower with the institutions. Yves Contassot quotes the State in the first place: “The metropolis represents 7 million people, it is 12% of the national population. This should enable us to influence national policies. “But she also aims to play at European level, especially financially: “All the Alecs do not have the same size and the same influence. For example, having the Parisian Climate Agency, which is a large structure, in our association, can help other Alec to obtain European funding that would otherwise be unattainable,” adds Yves Contassot.
First exam June 30
The funding is precisely highlighted on the roadmap of Grand Paris Climat. If for the moment, it is the MGP which will give the first financial boost, the association will have to determine the main lines of its project during the first Board of Directors, in the week of June 19 to 23 and which will bring together all its members, including eight representatives of the MGP, six representatives of the Alecs, two representatives for the Council for Architecture, Town Planning and the Environment of Val-de-Marne (CAUE94) and the housing association SOLIHA.
The project will then be presented and deliberated at the Metropolitan Council on June 30.