Christiana Figueres, negotiator for the United Nations of the Paris Agreement in 2015, is one of the linchpins of the COP21.
When he was entrusted with the holding of this international summit, after the berezina of the previous climate conference, the fight seemed lost in advance ... But it was counting without the "stubborn optimism" of this daughter of revolutionary and hero national.
We had left it in a tweed suit, pearls in our ears, when 150 countries had signed the Paris agreement in favor of keeping global warming below 2 ° C above pre-industrial levels.
We find the former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, in his living room in the middle of the mountains for a Zoom interview.
Released from her UN functions, in a longshoreman, the Costa Rican diplomat tells us about her book, "Let's invent our future", written with Tom Rivett-Carnac, which comes out on March 31 at Albin Michel (272 p., 19.90 euros).
We learn that a bomb had been discovered during the Paris summit;
above all, it delivers the recipes for its combativeness, and details ten measures to resolve the climate crisis.
In the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, with the warming soaring, how can we remain optimistic?
CHRISTIANA FIGUERES.
It's not simple.
France, like many other countries, has been hit hard by the Covid.
Many have lost their jobs or, worse, loved ones.
The desperation is understandable enough.
Faced with the destruction of biodiversity, of the atmosphere, despair is also heard.
But our responsibility is to cultivate the future.
We must put all our determination into it.
We have no other choice but to be stubbornly optimistic.
Otherwise we risk getting stuck in this catastrophic present for a long time.
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It may seem a little naive ...
On the contrary, it takes courage to be optimistic.
I take an example, with the Covid, many of us were confined around the world.
Either we despair, or we take the opportunity to call people who are doing badly.
We help them and, as a result, we are better.
It's the same with the climate.
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On the climate, scientific reports follow one another and repeat that it is almost too late to stay below 2 ° C by the end of the century ...
That is true.
It is almost too late.
But in that little word almost, there is room for opportunity.
We can still avoid disaster.
We need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This is one of the greatest challenges in human history.
In the book, I present ten actions to achieve this.
For example, stop or reduce your consumption of red meat.
Because livestock has a significant impact on global warming.
We have that power!
It's probably better for our health, as well as good for the planet.
Another very simple example, we must limit our consumption of electricity, by changing, in particular, our old heating systems, which consume more energy than necessary, for more efficient appliances.
Good for the planet and our wallet.
These individual efforts are insufficient to meet the objectives of COP21 ...
It is already very late, we cannot do without individual efforts, nor those of companies.
It is far too late to just wait for solutions from the leaders.
If we want to talk about government-level measures, I think we have to get out of fossil fuels.
Twenty-five percent of the world's electricity grid already comes from renewable energies.
But we can and must accelerate the movement.
Companies have committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, a small number by 2040 and a handful are committed to storing more carbon than they emit.
That should be our goal.
So you never have a low morale?
Of course not.
I am disappointed, frustrated, every day.
But I tell myself that my anger will not solve anything.
I owe it to my generation and especially to the following ones.
In the midst of the Covid crisis, we have the impression that the climate issue is taking a back seat.
Have we returned to the era of the Copenhagen conference?
No.
At that time nobody believed in the possibility of a global agreement, but we signed it.
Renewable energies are also advancing.
We are massively electrifying cars, now heavy truck manufacturers are committing to switch to electric.
In addition, very large groups have committed to reducing their climate impact.
Take Danone, this French group has done a remarkable job.
Its ex-CEO Emmanuel Faber wanted to make it a carbon positive company.
The example is not the best, this CEO was fired by the shareholders
...
Precisely, this is the perfect example.
We can see how difficult it is to be supported by its shareholders who have a short-term vision.
But they will bite their fingers, they go against consumer expectations.
In France, when the government wanted to tax fuel, the yellow vests took to the streets ...
Protests erupted over the rise in fuel prices, but the causes of the discontent ran much deeper.
Putting a price on pollution is not easy.
What the yellow vests crisis teaches the whole world is that we cannot impose this cost on already vulnerable populations.
The objective was the right one, we must review the means.
What do you think of the Climate Bill, which the National Assembly is starting to examine on Monday?
Creating a council of 150 citizens drawn by lot was a very courageous decision by the French government.
Especially after the yellow vests.
Well done!
But it seems that the bill greatly diminishes the scope of the citizens' very comprehensive proposals.
Hopefully the National Assembly through the game of amendments, they can return to their level.
We are running out of time for the baby steps policy.
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In your book, you mention a bomb found in the RER that served the summit, during the COP 21. At the time, we did not know ...
No.
It is necessary to put in the context, the attacks against the Bataclan and the terraces in Paris a few weeks before had created an extreme tension.
In addition, 150 heads of state on the same day in one place can be a very tempting target for terrorists.
Normally, during these summits, we put up barriers and everything inside is considered extraterritorial and under the responsibility of the UN services.
But in Paris, exceptionally, the French police were also engaged.
It was also she who detected the bomb (
Editor's note: we learned long after it had been put down by a trade unionist who opposed the restrictions on demonstrations. It could not have exploded but could not have exploded. be a decoy
).
We chose to continue, without panicking the 25,000 or so participants.
It was not an easy decision.
I will be forever grateful to the French dog service.