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Sustainable development: 5 takeaways from the Monaco energy transition conference

Transition énergétique développement durable Monaco
Camille Esteve - Patricia Cressot (à gauche)

Annabelle Jaeger-Seydoux, Director of the Princely Government’s Mission for Energy Transition, gave a talk for the MWF Institute on 8th October on the Principality’s actions to promote sustainable development.

Eliminate plastic

Considered the main source of CO2 emissions in the Principality, plastic is one of the most important issues to tackle both in Monaco and worldwide. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s National Inventory 2021 report, 24% of greenhouse gas emissions come from plastic waste incineration. For Annabelle Jaeger-Seydoux, the aim is therefore above all to find alternatives to plastic, in order to limit the amount of plastic waste. To her, the main difficulty in limiting plastic lies in both consumer pressure and regulatory pressure. One way to reduce this particularly polluting source of waste is to ban single-use plastic for both consumers and industry.

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Reduce and recycle waste

Beyond plastic itself, recycling and reducing waste are major aspects of the energy transition. Annabelle Jaeger-Seydoux encouraged Monegasques to visit the premises of the Paprec company, a waste sorting facility in Cannes, so that everyone could see where their waste ends up. A problem was raised: because of the dysfunctioning of certain sorting facilities, European governments have long sent their unsorted waste to Asia… until the countries flooded by this waste finally refused this practice! Since then, the improper functioning of the sorting systems has still not been fixed, but Annabelle Jaeger-Seydoux encourages people not only to continue recycling, but above all to limit the production of waste: “We must deal with the problem at the source”, she explains.

>> READ ALSO: Deep mess: ocean floor home to 14 million tons of microplastics says new research

Repair rather than consume

One way of reducing waste is to encourage the repair of damaged objects instead of throwing them away and buying new ones whenever possible. But in the age of over-consumption, shops that give a second life to our everyday objects are becoming rare. At the same time, Waste Reduction Week will take place at the end of November and Monaco is planning to take part by publishing a map of businesses that offer a repair service on the Rock. The call for participation will soon be relayed and a “repairathon”, i.e. a day dedicated to repair, will be organised in partnership with the city hall.

Going electric

Other concrete measures taken by the Principality include encouraging electric mobility on the Rock. Since 1994, the Princely Government has been offering aid for the purchase of an electric vehicle in Monaco. These cars are certainly more polluting at the moment in terms of construction, but they drastically limit greenhouse gas emissions in the long term. “We will have to address and resolve these issues,” admits Annabelle Jaeger-Seydoux, referring in particular to the batteries and the end of life of these electric vehicles. But there is no question of remaining in a carbon-based economy: the Princely Government has therefore been keen to reassure consumers about this transition, by addressing the questions and answers on its website. And for those who cannot change cars immediately, the car-sharing platform launched in Monaco during the pandemic can also help reduce the carbon impact.

>> READ ALSO: Monaco launches a help-to-buy scheme for electric and hybrid vehicles

Calculate your carbon footprint

To take the energy transition process even further, the Principality is offering individuals, companies and associations the opportunity to calculate the impact of their lifestyle on the environment. Secondly, by committing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the Princely Government has created the National Pact for Energy Transition. Since 2016, everyone, individually or collectively, can sign this Pact online, and commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. As Annabelle Jaeger-Seydoux points out: “Sustainable development is an ambitious and complex global challenge. A collective response is needed: we are the demand.”

>> READ MORE: Monaco puts the spotlight on its Energy Transition