Ecology: when the coronavirus crisis helps to raise awareness

INTERVIEW

There is still a long way to go, but awareness is changing.

According to an exclusive BVA poll for the Nexans Climate Day, which takes place this Tuesday at the Longchamps racecourse, and that Europe 1 was able to consult, one in three French people say they are ready to devote a little of their budget to fight against the global warming, or 1% to 5% of what is left after all the bills are paid.

At the microphone of Europe 1, Edouard Lecerf, Deputy Director General of BVA, commented on the main aspects of this study. 

>> Find Europe Matin in replay and podcast here

The main lesson, he analyzes, is undoubtedly the question of the relationship between this climate emergency and the health crisis "of the coronavirus. Today, he adds," there is a kind of triptych in everyone's mind, potentially with an economic and social crisis, a health crisis, and a climate emergency crisis. "And while we could have feared that the health crisis relegates the ecological crisis to the background in the mind of people, for nearly 40% of French people, "it is even more a priority," says the BVA study. This figure is even higher among young people.

"We can clearly see that there is a very strong rise in this climate emergency", continues Edouard Lecerf, as if this health crisis had been "one more element to show that man in nature has a special place. and fragile ".

On the electric car, "it's a bit 50/50"

In addition, renewable energies are mostly approved by the French.

85% of those surveyed are therefore in favor of installing solar panels.

The figure is a little lower for onshore wind turbines, but remains the majority (66%).

"It is one of the solutions in the arsenal that the French are considering today", comments Edouard Lecerf.

"When you make an effort against global warming, you want to see concrete elements. A wind turbine, solar panels, it's tangible, it's visible."

On the electric car, on the other hand, "it's a bit 50/50", concedes the guest of Europe 1, but "we are making progress".

How to explain the hesitation of many French people?

"First, there is a cost of access. The French still have the feeling that it is complicated and that it is a little more expensive", explains Edouard Lecerf.

“The second element is then in the use. Will I be able to drive as easily as with my thermal car? There is an incredible underestimation of the French on the number of electric charging stations. They feel there is a lot less. "

The ecological balance of the electric car is also disputed: although it emits less CO2, the production of electricity is still far from being mainly green (in France, 72% comes from nuclear power, etc.);

a problem to which must be added that of the production and recycling of its components (the battery, in particular), whose impact on the planet remains largely unknown.