As part of the works of the Horizon Europe French Mirror Group, Sustainable City by France and Marseille organized a meeting gathering the French ecosystem and European partners involved in the “100 climate-neutral and smart cities in 2030” European Mission in Marseille.
The meeting provided an opportunity to assess the Mission’s progress, share difficulties and levers for actions identified, and also operational tools, methods and best practices implemented by the 9 French laureated of the Cities Mission to speed up the decarbonization process.
Watch the replay:
(English subtitles available)
Opening
With :
Fabien Pérez, Community advisor in charge of European Funds, City of Marseille
Jean François Montagne, Vice-President, Ecological Transition and Resilience, Dunkirk Urban Community
Emmanuel de Lanversin, Deputy Director, French Ministry for Ecological Transition)
Video message from: Claudine Bichet, Deputy Mayor of Bordeaux, in charge of finance, climate change and gender equality. Vice-President of Bordeaux Metropolis in charge of climate, energy transition and health, and Céline Papin, Deputy Mayor of Bordeaux in charge of territorial, European and international cooperation and of monitoring the city’s links with the world of higher education and research. , r Vice-President of Bordeaux Metropolis for Territorial Balance, International Relations and Citizen Dialogue.
Faced with the challenges of the Anthropocene, how can we prioritize to accelerate action?
This discussion was dedicated to the citizens’ role in ecological transitions process, the logic of “renunciation” (doing things differently), and regenerative companies that are changing their business model.
With contributions from:
Virginie Carolo-Lutrot, President of Sustainable Cities by France, Mayor of Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine and President of Caux Seine agglo
Antoine Denoix, CEO, Axa Climate
Judith Ferrando, Co-Director, Missions Publiques, member of Sustainable Cities by France’ Scientific Committee
Alexandre Monnin, Research Director, Origens Medialab, ESC Clermont
The participants emphasized that climate change is only one aspect of local and global environmental concerns. They reiterated the importance of dealing with the “carbon” issue in respect of the broader challenges of the 9 planetary boundaries.
Mission Cities as test labs for achieving the European goal of carbon neutrality by 2050
A round-table to discuss the Mission’s progress, short-term prospects and initial feedback from territories involved in “Climate City Contracts”.
European and French perspectives
With :
Pierre Pacaud, General Directorate for Research and Innovation, French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR)
Dominique Mathieu-Huber, Commissariat général au développement durable, (French Ministry for Ecological Transition)
Harry Tuinder, Legal and policy officer, “Future Urban and Mobility Systems” DG RTD European Commission
Elena Simion, Coordinator of the CapaCITIES consortium, (UEFSCDI Romania)
Eugénie Cartron, Program Lead and Systems Designer, NetZeroCities (Dark Matter Lab)
Local perspectives
With :
Delphine Bourdin, Sustainable Development, Europe and International Advisor, France urbaine
Pierre Verri, Vice-President of Grenoble Alpes Metropolis in charge of Air, Energy and Climate Change
Benoît Pilet, Deputy Mayor of Angers, Vice-President in charge of International Relations
What are the benefits of such a program for France? Including support strategies and systems
With :
Emmanuel de Lanversin, Deputy Director of the Housing, Urban Planning and Landscapes Department (French Ministry for Ecological Transition)
Edita Smajic-Simunovic, Project Manager, European Commission Representation in France (Marseille)
What kind of public-private-commons alliances do we need to achieve ambitious targets by 2030?
To accelerate decarbonization, ecological, economic, and social change, the involvement of all stakeholders, including citizens, is essential. The speakers shared their experiences of innovative public-private partnerships and other methods for broadly involving stakeholder communities, such as carbon cooperatives, or dialogue and support for retailers committed to transforming their business models…
Find out more about the discussions:
With contributions from:
Julie Delcroix, Climate Neutral Cities Advisor, NetZeroCities (ERRIN)
Alexandre Chrétien, Co-founder, Convention des entreprises pour le climat (Business for Climate Convention)
Jean-Baptiste Geissler, General Secretary, “Club Top 20”
Raphaël Michaud, Deputy Mayor, affordable, low-carbon and desirable city, Lyon
Catherine Lafage, Head of Ecological Transition – Climate, Nantes Metropolis
What investments and business models do we need for climate action?
Among the obstacles identified, the European Mission cities expressed their financial difficulties in achieving carbon neutrality.
Find out more about the measures available and implemented to finance the transition of these cities:
With :
Arthur Coussy, “100 climate-neutral and smart cities in 2030” European Mission Project Manager, Marseille
Alexis Rouque, Regional Director Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, Banque des Territoires
Véronique Ménez, European Funds Coordinator, Franch National Agency for the Cohesion of Territories (ANCT)
Aurore Colin, Project Manager, I4CE
Cécile Bordier, Carbon Finance Project Manager, Department for Climate and Ecological transition, City of Paris
Keynote Anne Clerc, Prefect, Head of the Territorialization and Sectors Division, French General Secretariat for Ecological Planning (SGPE)
Find out more about the SGPE’s ecological planning tools:
Tools and methods for project planning and evaluation
Examples of tools tested and implemented at Dijon Metropolis, Dunkirk and Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis
With :
Matthew Wendeln, Project Director, “Low-carbon strategies for territories”, Efficacity
Vincent Fouchier, Director, Foresight and Development Council, Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis
Sylvie Delatte, Director of Strategy, European and International Cooperation, Urban Community of Dunkirk
Oanez Codet Hache, Director of Urban Ecology, Dijon Metropolis
Conclusion
Fabien Pérez, Community advisor in charge of European Funds, Marseille
Thomas Osdoba, Programme Director for NetZeroCities (EIT-Climate KIC)
Thanh-Tâm Lê, Director Impact and Performance (EIT-Climate KIC)
Pierre Pacaud, Directorate General for Research and Innovation, French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR)
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