On Friday 14 October, the Grenoble metropolitan area hosted an unprecedented council: the Metropolitan Climate Convention. On the model of the one created at the national level, about a hundred citizens presented their proposals within the Assembly. In front of them, elected officials did not hesitate to criticize some difficult actions to take.
These citizens had the task of answering two questions: how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030? And how to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050?
Together they spent months thinking, learning and understanding. Which has profoundly changed them. “For five weekends, we learned as we went. And the more we advanced, the more we learned, Aurélie says Patrunocommercial and member of the Citizens’ Climate Convention. Today I am part of a citizen collective to talk about many topics including ecology, I have also become a vegetarian. Many things have changed!“
During the metropolitan council organized on 14 October, the citizens of the Metropolitan Climate Convention came to present their 219 priority actions. Among these, the development of small towns, the renovation, but also the free transport or the reduction of air transport.
“We wanted to send strong signals, to say that we had to change our lifestyles with 2050 in perspective and on a larger scale than our simple daily commutes, notes Nicolas Chartrain, also a member of the Convention. We had exchanges on epic aviation debates that were enriching. And we can see that people are also changing their perception on these topics.“.
During the evening, several mayors or elected officials of small towns intervened during the debates to remind citizens that not everything was within their competence. Laurent Tovisteelected in Fontaine, he intervened, for example, in the debate on free public transport. “There are people for whom paying a transport ticket is not a problem. So why should we deprive ourselves of revenue that would allow us to continue developing the transport offer? achurches.
“The some of the things already exist, but they don’t know it. And other things that are not within our competence, that we cannot do, adds Domenico Scaronepresident of the Municipalities group in the heart of the metropolis and mayor of Sappey-en-Chartreuse. For example, I cannot do research on the accumulation of electricity. Nobody can do it at the CEA, we won’t do it in my town hall! So if we take away what is not possible, or what has already been done, a certain number of actions remain Interesting“.
Métropole president Christophe Ferrari promised: these proposals will not remain a dead letter … Allusion to the National Climate Convention, where alone 10% the recommendations of the citizens had been maintained by the state.
