Like every November, the climate high mass that is the COP follows its rites and its liturgy. The Heads of State parade to repeat their sermon on the urgency of acting, they renew their vows of commitment to reduce their emissions by “x percent”, but the greenhouse gas (GHG) curve bends to sadness. In Quebec, a series of articles, with supporting quotes from experts and ecologists, repeated in chorus that Quebec is not going in the right direction. But the government will absolve itself because, for North Americans, “we are not that bad”. In short, nothing changes.
Here, nothing changes because the issue has always been dealt with on the periphery of real power and without upsetting anything fundamental. Our efforts have always been led by environment ministers with limited influence, who have managed to improve things, but always at the margins. A little public transport here, a pinch of greening there, a few subsidies, awareness above all that, but nothing to influence the normal course of business, our way of life and successive governments. Yet reducing our environmental footprint is much more than building more dams and wind turbines.
It’s time to change strategy. To be successful, it will take depth in both commitment and implementation, decision by decision. It is the whole of the State apparatus which must put itself behind our objectives.
Above all, the climate strategy cannot ignore the challenges of our time. To use religious vocabulary, a holy trinity seems unavoidable to us: transport, housing and biodiversity.
Transportation has always been Quebec’s Achilles’ heel in reducing GHGs. But with the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine construction site, we can also see to what extent our transport system, all driven by cars, is undermining our quality of life and our economy. Breaking our dependence on individual motorization is urgent, and not just for the climate. Resolutely, to move forward, we must continuously build major public transport projects while supporting cities to promote active mobility and proximity to services. Let’s also think about car sharing. You have to give people options! The increasing size of vehicles and the need for a penalty when buying petrol cars must also cease to be taboo subjects.
Housing was in a latent crisis that was exacerbated by the real estate frenzy of the pandemic. Its social consequences are beginning to weigh down the Quebec social safety net. To reduce it, the State will have to intervene to fill the structural gap between housing supply and demand. Through their interventions, public authorities must ensure that supply is stimulated in the heart of our communities, where the distances are the shortest to travel, as well as near public transit. Government orientations favorable to densification, financial support for the construction of eco-districts and massive investments in social housing would be a way of tackling both crises at the same time. Obviously, these new buildings will have to be exemplary from an environmental point of view and not be heated with natural gas.
Biodiversity is less directly linked to our living conditions. But our interdependence with ecosystems is increasingly recognized and the proliferation of citizen initiatives to protect nature clearly shows that it is close to our hearts. True natural infrastructures, the green and blue spaces and networks that surround us support our resilience at little cost. Nature thus renders services of immense value to us. We can no longer afford to degrade this essential asset that our way of life is jeopardizing.
With the holding in December at home, in Montreal, of the other COP – that of biodiversity – everything is in place for great progress, in particular with a view to curbing urban sprawl, defined worldwide as one of the main threats to biodiversity.
Quebec has everything it needs to become a climate champion who will pave the way for other states. We have a favorable energy context and, with the funds from the Carbon Exchange and the good financial health of the State, we have the budgetary means to tackle the work. To do this, you will have to accept to pierce the surface to go deep, and dare to be radical by attacking the root of the problems. All this while improving the quality of life in the medium and long term. Because yes, in the short term, many will feel rushed.
To get there, you have to start making the right decisions now. With regard to the structuring issues of transport, housing and biodiversity, the action plan of the National Architecture and Land Use Planning Policy, expected in February, is the perfect opportunity for this shift. . It is in our towns and villages and on our territory that the results of our contribution to the necessary planetary effort will be measured.