The day after the dissolution of the Les Uprisings of the Earth movement, for “incitement to the commission of sabotage and material damage”, a non-violent assembly discussed “ecology and green growth” at the Palais Brongniart, in Paris. The former headquarters of the Stock Exchange is the scene of the summit for a new financial pact, launched on the initiative of Emmanuel Macron and which brings together dozens of heads of state from around the world. After the opening speech by the French President and the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, unofficial co-organizer of the conference, a round table was held entitled “A new method, partnerships for green growth”.
Moderated by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, the think tank was made up of an assembly as prestigious as it was unlikely. Side by side the Egyptian Head of State, Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the Congolese President, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, whose first election as head of Congo-Brazzaville dates back to 1979, the South African and Colombian Presidents, the CEO of a biodiversity advocacy organization and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The eighth and last chair remained empty. It was reserved for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but he hasn’t emerged from the sidelines since his Mercedes dropped him off a few hours earlier outside the Brongniart Palace. The summit website was quickly updated and MBS’s name was removed from the list of roundtable attendees. “He’s already gone,” a foreign ministry source said with a smile. “He came, did some bilats [bilateral interviews, editor’s note], then he left the place. »
In MBS’ absence, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa takes the lead role. He opens the debate by recalling that his country is the testing ground for the new tool that symbolizes the North-South partnership to fight against global warming: the “partnership for a just energy transition”, better known by its English acronym JETP. Highly dependent on coal, South Africa has been granted $8.5 billion by rich countries to help decarbonize its energy. President Ramaphosa clarified that the day before, in Pretoria, he received the Prime Ministers of the last two countries to have joined this JETP: Denmark and the Netherlands. He is pleased that his country serves as a model for this tool (in addition to South Africa, four JETPs are launched or under study, in Senegal, Vietnam and Indonesia), but he warns: “Energy needs in my country are so important that we cannot close all our old power stations. »
Sitting to his right, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen nods and takes notes. She is delighted with the promising start of the South African JETP, set up as part of the “Global Gateway” program, imagined in 2021 as an EU response to the Chinese Silk Roads. The program promises 300 billion in overseas investment for development projects with a focus on combating global warming. The Global Gateway’s flagship project is the South African JETP. She extended the request of President Ramaphosa, who asked her for more funds, but “public money cannot be enough”, she slips, turning to him. According to her, the most effective tool to fight against global warming is “carbon pricing”, the price of carbon. Implemented in Europe in 2005, it forces big polluters to innovate. “Not only have CO2 emissions been reduced by 35% in the EU, but it brings in money to set up new projects. She has a wish: that the price of carbon will no longer be applied only within the EU, but on the whole planet. No response from the audience.
Arriving 15 minutes late, Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso looks distracted in his elegant double-breasted suit. When it is his turn to speak, he recalls that he was already at the COP in Copenhagen in 2009. He calls his “brother”, the Egyptian President al-Sissi, to witness and exclaims: “A lot of money was promised, but we did not see the 100 billion that were to go to poor countries. “I hope this summit will be the summit of rupture, because we are at a crossroads,” he said to French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. “Top of the break or the audacity”, she outbids before giving the floor to the last speaker, a civil society actor, Mr. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International, an organization for the defense of biodiversity. Its role is to “shake up the participants a bit and energize the debates”, according to one of the organizers. He is pleased that the summit gives the floor to both leaders from the North and the South, but draws a pessimistic conclusion from the situation. “As regards development aid, the train is on, even if it is not going fast enough. Regarding the climate: the situation is blocked. He calls for a Marshall Plan, in which the private sector would play a crucial role.
The private sector was also much discussed during the first round table of the summit, which was held a few minutes earlier. Dedicated to multilateral development banks, it gave rise to more anticipated exchanges. Around the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, his “friend” Janet Yellen, the American Secretary of the Treasury, the new President of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, who came to denounce the ” cocktail of crises” hitting Africa (an economic, climate, debt and cost of living crisis) and ever-optimistic American philanthropist Melinda Gates: “We are on the right path. A Greenpeace activist tried to join in the conversation, but was quickly evacuated, not without being corrected about how much money she was asking for to fight global warming. “We are going to devote 200 billion to it, not 200 million, madam,” replied Bruno Le Maire, to the applause of the room.
Janet Yellen then reveals that the United States is in favor of reforming the World Bank, with the aim of adding the fight against global warming to the objectives of the Washington-based institution. Ajay Banga, the reforming president of the World Bank, thanks her and says he is confident but impressed by the immensity of the task. “I have five years to succeed. And to detail his method: “More growth and more work are necessary in order to reduce poverty in the world. Far, again, from the aspirations of the Earth Uprisings, more focused on “degrowth” or the “right to laziness”.
