Yves Marignac
négaWatt Association, RINGOs representative at COP21
The Research and Independent NGOs (RINGOs) community brings together researchers, practitioners, educators, and experts dedicated to a low carbon and resilient development. Sharing the concern that the world needs to build a clear pathway to the decarbonisation of the economy through effective, fair and sustainable options, they offer a breadth of pluralist knowledge and expertise to help respond to the urgent need for coordinated action. Our constituency welcomes the political will and appreciation of scientific evidence that led Governments to sign the Paris Agreement. We also welcome the growing commitment of businesses and local authorities to achieve ambitious targets such as 100% renewables, and the growing attention paid to the key issue of energy efficiency. This is fully consistent with the own contribution of the négaWatt Association, a French independent non-profit gathering of experts working on sustainable energy policy options. The sustainable approach proposed by négaWatt is based on three principles. It is first about being collectively and individually clever about what energy services we are using energy for (what we call energy sufficiency), then about implementing the best technical options to use as less energy resources as possible to deliver energy services (energy efficiency), and finally subsituting dominant energies by renewable ones. In a nutshell: bringing clever, efficient, renewable based energy services to all.
In the framework set by the Paris Agreement, nationally determined contributions from the parties are fundamental for limiting warming to 2 degrees or less. But they are still insufficient. Increased energy efficiency is the most ready and obvious mean for accelerating decarbonisation. It will require both decentralised action to tap the potential on the very local level, and concerted action to ensure a consistent transition of the global economy. Stimulating international collaboration on energy efficiency will be particularly instrumental in the decades to come. Energy sufficiency will be crucial to complement energy efficiency technologies. Reducing the waste of energy for somehow useless services in developed countries will be key to meet their own climate objectives. Behaviour change will also send an important signal to all those longing to get to this developed lifestyle, particularly in emerging countries. In a world of constrained energy consumption, it is also a matter of solidarity with places where more energy is still needed to meet vital needs. As a local member of the RINGOs constituency, négaWatt was proud to speak on their behalf at COP21, emphasizing their potential contribution to identify and develop the best mitigation and adaptation options, to monitor and evaluate their implementation in an accountable, comparable and transparent way, as well as to develop sound and equitable means to protect, and meet the needs of the most vulnerable communities.To support implementation of the Paris Agreement, the full breadth of human talent and invention will need to be deployed. This will require a sustained commitment to research, development, education, public engagement, and capacity building. The RINGOs are eager to collaborate with all players and engage at all required levels. We bring words of confidence to all those who face obstacles and have doubts about a fair, ambitious and binding agreement: pluralistic research and expertise are key resources, which you can rely on. Integrating this into open decision-making processes will help to meet the level of ambition that this agreement must set for the world.
Yves Marignac, négaWatt Association, RINGOs representative at COP21