Climat : papiers de recherche moissonnés (23 février 2018)

Faire la ville dense, durable et désirable. Agir sur les formes urbaines pour répondre aux enjeux de l’étalement urbain. Paris : ADEME ; I Care & Consult, février 2018, 72 p. http://www.ademe.fr/faire-ville-dense-durable-desirable

Ce guide s’adresse à l’ensemble des acteurs de l’urbanisme ainsi qu’aux élus des collectivités territoriales. Il vise à montrer les grandes dynamiques à l’oeuvre et à proposer des pistes pour poursuivre la transition des territoires vers un modèle de développement soutenable et désirable. Il présente des éléments de réflexion concernant l’étalement urbain et les enjeux induits par ce phénomène, ainsi qu’une approche opérationnelle des questions de densité et de formes urbaines. Il met en lumière certains exemples concrets de mise en œuvre inspirants. Il propose ainsi une approche structurée pour comprendre et impulser des projets qui répondent aux enjeux d’un urbanisme durable et favorable au bien-être et à l’amélioration du cadre de vie, en 3 volets :
– Le premier volet aborde les différents enjeux environnementaux, économiques et sociétaux liés à l’étalement urbain.
– Le second volet présente un cadrage théorique des notions de densité et de formes urbaines ainsi que les leviers réglementaires pouvant être mobilisés par les acteurs de l’urbanisme pour maitriser l’urbanisation des territoires.
– Le troisième volet détaille différents leviers à mobiliser pour agir sur la densité réelle et la densité vécue, à partir de projets inspirants, selon différentes formes urbaines.

Our Alarming Climate Crisis Demands Border Adjustments Now / John S. Odell. International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Feb. 2018, 32 p. https://www.ictsd.org/themes/climate-and-energy/research/our-alarming-climate-crisis-demands-border-adjustments-now

While the universally endorsed and ratified Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is set to limit temperature increases to well below 2˚C above pre-industrial levels, recent estimates indicate that current mitigation pledges only cover a third of the emissions reductions needed. One proposed tool which would allow countries to scale up climate action at home without risking to see their efforts undermined by carbon leakage is border carbon adjustment. While such measures have so far not been put to practice, the current climate urgency combined with the fact that the world’s largest economy and second largest emitter is now choosing to step aside, has led John Odell, Professor Emeritus of International Relations with the University of Southern California, to revisit the border carbon adjustment topic. In this paper, he puts forward a model for how a border carbon adjustment could look like that is effective, World Trade Organization compatible, and sensitive to development considerations.

Aligning energy development and climate objectives in Nationally Determined Contributions / Andrew Scott, Leah Worrall and Sejal Patel. Climate & Development Knowledge Network, Jan. 2018, 28 p. (CDKN working paper) https://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/CDKN_Aligning-Energy-Working-Paper_final-web.pdf

The effectiveness of national energy policy will be decisive for achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Emissions from the production and consumption of energy need to reduce significantly, but government commitments in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) fall short of the action required. About half of the NDCs submitted do not include actions to reduce energy emissions and, when included, actions may not reflect all energy emissions or be consistent with national energy policies. This paper by Andrew Scott, Leah Worrall and Sejal Patel looks at how four specific developing countries are aligning their energy policies with their NDCs, or missing key opportunities to do so, and they raise questions about how governments could do things differently… lire la suite

A good life for all within planetary boundaries / Daniel W. O’Neill, Andrew L. Fanning, William F. Lamb and Julia K. Steinberg, Nature Sustainability, vol. 1, Feb. 2018, pp. 88-95 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0021-4.epdf

Humanity faces the challenge of how to achieve a high quality of life for over 7 billion people without destabilizing critical planetary processes. Using indicators designed to measure a ‘safe and just’ development space, we quantify the resource use associated with meeting basic human needs, and compare this to downscaled planetary boundaries for over 150 nations. We find that no country meets basic needs for its citizens at a globally sustainable level of resource use. Physical needs such as nutrition, sanitation, access to electricity and the elimination of extreme poverty could likely be met for all people without transgressing planetary boundaries. However, the universal achievement of more qualitative goals (for example, high life satisfaction) would require a level of resource use that is 2–6 times the sustainable level, based on current relationships. Strategies to improve physical and social provisioning systems, with a focus on sufficiency and equity, have the potential to move nations towards sustainability, but the challenge remains substantial.

Danièle Revel

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