The handover from COP21 to COP22 has been made. While the former took into account politically significant investments and the media’s commitments to new practices and existing solutions, the time is now for action on the ground. The focus must turn to networking and knowledge sharing backed by the media, who are better prepared to act on these issues. Will mayors and journalists be the new drivers of the fight against climate change?
Development & climate: the same battle
The MedCOP22 in Tangier in early July was the first gathering of the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. A true warm-up session at four months to COP22, Morocco benefitted from these early interactions by building a common voice within the region.
In developing areas of the world, the collective preservation of the common good is a real challenge when facing the “Northern” countries that win the prize for greenhouse gas emissions per capita (France, Italy, Spain). But the situation is a source of growth for African countries. Taking advantage of the development opportunities offered by the solutions to climate change (like switching directly to solar energy access without using fossil fuels) undoubtedly avoids the construction of the heavy networks of infrastructure that the so-called developed countries have known.
Mayors taking charge
With urban populations expected to reach nearly 80% of the world by 2050, cities are the perfect playground for rolling out real innovations in terms of waste treatment, circularity, adapted mobility, and reduced and green energy. According to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, cities have the ability to contribute to ¼ of the greenhouse gas reductions necessary to achieve the 2°C goal; and they are also the ones responsible for 70% of the current emissions.
Anne Hidalgo, leader of #Cities4Climate during the Cop21 and likely to become chair of the C40 soon, brought the subject to the ears of all local elected officials at the Climate Summit and Territories in July 2015: “By switching to other things, we identify new opportunities in terms of jobs and economic developments. Construction, mobility, and the role of nature in our cities represent magnificent ecological and economic opportunities.” The city of the future, may it be sustainable or simply inventive, requires a focus on restoring our urban areas to reveal their full potential, as highlighted during the Convergences World Forum on September 5th.
The climate of newsrooms is changing too
Within this spectrum, the media have a crucial role in making a tremendous on-the-ground collective out of this societal objective. For Meriem Oudghiri, Secretary General of the Economist (Morocco), “The media has a moral responsibility to address climate issues. We have a watchdog role, but are also advisers and educators.” The challenge in discussing climate issues in the media is to successfully interest readers, while also making debates that are often technical and specialized more accessible.”
Mourad Hachid, digital editor of El Watan (Algeria) says that the key “is to touch the readers, to make them personally concerned with the subject.” And though journalists are not all experts, “El Watan opens columns to external contributors so they can express themselves.” For ADEME (The French Environment and Energy Management Agency), training journalists on issues of global warming, the circular economy, and renewable energy is essential. Major conferences like the COP are “opportunities for our experts to accompany journalists in building their skills in these areas.”
To raise awareness and teach the public to adopt lifestyles with less impact on the climate, a number of significant initiatives have been launched by some of the media: The Guardian, in addition to many specialized columns on sustainable development, made a lot of noise this year in taking an activist stance with its “Keep it in the Ground” campaign, as did the Spanish daily El Pais with its Planeta Futuro column (funded by the Gates Foundation).
The aim is also economic, as the issues of financing the energy transition influence the evolution of our systems. This November 4th, as part of the Solutions&Co program, 20 major business media including Les Echos in France, L’Economiste in Morocco, the Financial Times in the UK, Valor Economico in Brazil, Hindu Business Line in India, African Business, and more, will publish a special edition to present the trends of the new organizations of cities and two practical urban innovations in each country.
While COP21 allowed for a substantial policy launch, COP22 will be the moment to reinvigorate the subject on the media’s stage and enable discussions about the implementation of solutions on the ground. In the end, the networking transcends from the players to the general public, to the media and cities. “Uniting forces” are the new buzzwords in our fast-moving world.
