French climatologist Jean Jouzel during the “meetings of entrepreneurs” organized by the Medef at the Longchamp racecourse in Paris, August 29, 2023 (AFP / Emmanuel Dunand)
Renewable energies are the first energy to be mobilized to fight against climate change, which now requires acting very quickly, said climatologist Jean Jouzel on Tuesday, in front of an audience of entrepreneurs brought together by the Medef.
“It is now that we must act, it is very clear, and unfortunately this is not what we are doing since the emissions (of greenhouse gases) linked to fossil fuels continue to increase”, a- he underlined during a debate at the “Rencontres des entrepreneurs de France 2023”.
“What will we be able to do by 2030 on a planetary scale? Well, when we look at the potential for reducing emissions, it’s around 10 billion tonnes of CO2 for renewables, so that it is of the order of 1 billion tons for nuclear power and 1 billion tons for the capture and storage of CO2”.
Today, “to limit global warming to 1.5°C, we only have 5 years of emissions left at the current rate, and a little less than 15 years if we want to limit it to two degrees. In reality, we are starting almost deliberately towards a warming which could reach 3°C, or even 4°C in France”, underlined this former head of the UN climate expert group (IPCC).
“Faced with this observation, I can only share the call of Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN, to stop all investments in fossil fuels”.
The CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné at the Longchamp racecourse in Paris, August 29, 2023 (AFP / Emmanuel Dunand)
“This transition, I’m sorry Jean, it will take time,” replied, alongside him, the CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné.
“I respect the advice of scientists but there is real life”, he said, “assuming” to continue his oil and gas investments because demand is growing: “I have to ensure security of supply at the cost the most efficient”.
The Swiss Bertrand Piccard, president of the Solar Impulse foundation, for his part called for a “change of paradigm”.
“We believe that it is difficult because we are going from a fairly simple situation today, where we have fossil and nuclear, to a situation where the energy sources will be multiple and intermittent,” he said. said, listing the renewable sources available.
“It’s technically much simpler than you think, but it’s more difficult because you have to get out of your habits and question yourself,” he said.
© 2023 AFP
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