And you, are you ready to profoundly change your way of living, traveling and consuming to help you adapt to the consequences of climate change? On the occasion of the 2022 edition of the Paris Zero Carbon Forum organized by our newspaper at the Paris City Hall, the Tribune asked the IFOP to measure the state of mind of Ile-de-France residents in a region of the capital that it is spared neither from the consequences of global warming (2022 was the hottest year on record with 3 heat waves), nor from coercive measures to change our lifestyles.
Changes are constant and not always easy to accept. Uncoordinated closure with the peripheral municipalities of the river roads of the capital; still anarchic development of the use of bicycles despite the construction of cycle paths and ring roads; as well as the anarchic presence of soft mobility and other scooters today threatened with ban due to the dangerous use made of them by irresponsible people; but also accelerated urbanization in a dense city that remains a thermal sieve due to the delay in renovation works; arrival of the new legislation with payment for the parking of motorized two-wheelers; forthcoming implementation of the ZFE (Low Emission Zone which will ban the most polluting vehicles from next year); preparation for the end of thermal vehicles in Paris, which highlights the delay in the installation of charging stations (work entrusted to TotalEnergies in the capital); new energy legislation for homes with a ban on the leasing of buildings classified G, then F, then E, which subjects the owners to the obligation to work in the midst of the explosion in the price of raw materials. The list of upheavals is unprecedented, changing both landscape and lifestyles like no generation of Parisians or Ile-de-France residents had ever known before.
A region under tension
All these transformations have their own logic and legitimacy, but the accumulation puts pressure on a region with more than 12 million inhabitants and which remains a transport hub, with two major airports, and an essential economic hub. It is also a dual region, the richest in per capita GDP, but which also concentrates pockets of poverty and which, despite a dense network of public transport, metro, bus, tram and above all RER, forces the inhabitants of the region to move car for lack of an alternative.
The yellow vest movement was also born in Île-de-France with several emblematic figures, particularly in Seine-et-Marne. The debate on the increase of the Navigo crossing with a bitter tug of war between the president of the Region, Valérie Pécresse and the government, has shown that the social and ecological crisis does not allow passing too high price increases for public transport, especially since this public service has been damaged by the Covid crisis. At 84.50 euros against 75, the surge in the former Carte Orange is contained compared to the 100 euros they threatened.
Residents of Ile-de-France are worried but aware of the problems
In this region of the capital, 83% of Ile-de-France residents say they are, according to our survey, concerned about global warming and reveal a strong awareness of the need to adapt to it. This datum, which corresponds to the national average, is particularly high among the under 25s, the Clima generation, 43% of whom are affected by the phenomenon of eco-anxiety. In comparison, only 16% of over 65s say they are very worried, marking a gap between carefree Boomers driving diesel SUVs and young enthusiasts of electric and non-electric bikes.
The measures taken so far to reduce air pollution have not really convinced of their effectiveness. 77% of Ile-de-France residents believe that in November 2022 this pollution is increasing (40% a lot, especially in the center of Paris, a sign of inefficiency, at least in the peripheral and waste districts, of the town hall of Paris traffic plan). Only 3% of Ile-de-France residents believe that pollution has decreased: the signal is strong for elected officials at the time of the establishment of the ZFE and while the electric car is still marginal due, in particular of charging stations. By pinching the entrance to Paris, the multiplication of traffic jams, accelerated by the return of tourist coaches after Covid, makes Paris one of the most polluted cities in France, in any case this is the feeling of those who live there. .
Fatality or resignation
According to the IFOP, there is a feeling of fatalism among the residents of Ile-de-France according to which global warming is an accelerating phenomenon (91%), according to which local elected representatives should act more and more effectively ( 86%). A feeling of social injustice also dominates, underlines François Legrand who conducted the IFOP study: 73% of the inhabitants of Ile-de-France believe that the state requires too much effort from the poorest and not enough from the richest. Two-thirds are resigned to a climate change deemed inevitable for which there is no solution (58%). Quite worryingly, we find 36% of Ile-de-France climate skeptics say the phenomenon is exaggerated by the media.
The social divide and the ecological divide go hand in hand: 51% of Ile-de-France residents also have the feeling of “making more effort than others”: a majority sentiment among Parisians, environmentalists, young people and… the most modest and poor, as well as among the willy-nilly converts to the little queen…
Reconciling the end of the world and the end of the month
On the solutions side, the FIFG measures a greater degree of acceptance of the idea that the end of the world and the end of the month are compatible, for 60% of respondents, only 23% judge that priority should be given to the power of purchase on ecological transition. Whether this will hold true at the start of the year with food and energy prices likely to rise remains to be seen.
The priority measures to be put in place are number 1 the thermal requalification of buildings, an emergency when 39% of emissions come from this source and the rules of the energy audit will put pressure on the works, which are still very late. In 2, the acceleration of the ecological transition of the industry, in 3 the major development of green spaces, revegetation to combat heat islands in the city. The reduction in the use of thermal vehicles and the transition to electric motorization is mentioned only in number 4, as is the limitation in the use of aircraft. Organic products, undoubtedly the effect of the drop in purchasing power, only come in 6th place while sales are collapsing.
Residents of Ile-de-France, who live both from traffic jams and RER delays, obviously support the development of the railway as an alternative to the road as much as possible. 90% consider it the priority for the years to come. In second place, 85% are in favor of reducing the use of pesticides by 2030, 83% of doubling renewable energy. To make the ecological transition fair and effective, the residents of Ile-de-France also expect more state aid so that the most precarious families renovate their homes (78%), 62% that the owners are forced to before a sale and 61% are to limit the access of the most polluting vehicles in the city. Only 55%, a small majority, want air travel to be taxed more. Less than half, 47%, are in favor of a ban on the sale of new diesel, petrol and hybrid vehicles in 2035, as proposed by the European Union. There is therefore work of conviction to be done, observes François Legrand of the IFOP, particularly on aid for the transition to electric motors.
Residents of Ile-de-France rely on companies, especially the larger ones, to make progress in the fight against global warming, at 86%, nearly on a par with the state and the EU (85% and 83% ). The citizens themselves, the Greater Paris metropolis, come forward while the City of Paris intervenes only in last position at 74%.
Unconvincing solutions
What are we ready to do to fight global warming? Separate waste collection at 91%, using public transport more, walking or cycling at 85%, lowering the heating by a few degrees at 82%, eating less meat instead convinces only 72% of respondents and car pooling 57%.
When asked specifically about practices in terms of the future of mobility, three quarters of Ile-de-France residents are convinced that in 2030 there will be fewer individual cars and more bicycles. 65% even think that there will be more people traveling by bicycle. But 61% think that, despite everything, we will move more and that we will not limit ourselves to staying in the city for the quarter of an hour… 59% understand that combustion engines will no longer be able to enter the city in 2030, which is still uncertain if not to change the entire car park or to put parking spaces at the entrance to the cities. A small majority of 57% believe in the arrival of the autonomous car in the city, with autonomous taxis perhaps, waiting for the flying car…
Autosolism, being alone in a car, will no longer be tolerated: 74% of Ile-de-France residents think that less individual car use in Île-de-France is a good thing, but beware of the return of the Yellow Vests, because a quarter, the most modest, opposes it with a very strong refusal among the modest categories, the elderly and the voters of Marine Le Pen, as well as the inhabitants of Essonne and Seine-et-Marne, the departments excluded from the Transports of Greater Paris. Likewise, an alarm signal taken into consideration by the government, the short-term adherence to the ban on diesel vehicles from the urban area of Ile-de-France through the implementation of fines in the ZFE divide the Ile-de – residents of France. Only 17% are very in favor, 38% in favor and 45% against, of which 18% strongly against. Again car enthusiasts in the more rural departments are strongly against it, as are the elderly and pensioners. It remains to do the work of persuasion to reach the famous point of no return of the Ile-de-France company and convince it to give up the thermal car. A lesson to reflect on all the decision makers educated by the Yellow Vest crisis who may see red more than green if they are not helped to have an electric vehicle that is cheap and easy to recharge in abundant and cheap electric terminals. At the current price of said cars and electricity that is blazing, there is no winning.
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Our IFOP survey: “Parisians and the environment”
Survey conducted on a sample of 1,000 people representing the Ile-de-France population aged 18 and over. Self-administered online questionnaire 22nd to 25th issue produced by IFOP.
