The principle of " neutrality carbon " (or of Compensation carbon ) was proposed in the years 2000 by various personalities and authorities like one of the possible answers to the drifts observed since as regards energy wasting.
En France, it was adopted by the government and was studied by the ARF (Association of the areas of France) in 2006, which in made a tool to evaluate the plan contracts State-Area CPER and the P.O (Plane operational) European:
In 2006, French the Prime Minister announced the objective of “ neutrality carbon ” in plan contracts (CPER): “ You will register the contract of projects from the point of view of neutrality carbon. /. You will set up a device of follow-up allowing to take care of the respect of neutrality carbon of the contract, while bringing if necessary of the corrective measures at the time of their revision for semi course ”. The projects financially supported under the CPER under the control of the Prefect S of area, should not from now on lead any more overall to additional emissions of GES (Gas with greenhouse effect). A compensation approach of the type must allow the CPER (or equivalent) first implementations of the principle of neutrality for the State and the Areas.

Recall

The Protocole of Kyoto initially urges us to stabilize our gas emissions with greenhouse effect (GES) on the level of 1990 from here 2010. Beyond, to limit the warming to approximately 2°C into 2100, the law of orientation on the energy of July 14th, 2005, expects that France divides by 4 of the emissions from here 2050 (cf “Facteur 4”). This implies a reduction from approximately 3% per annum rejections in entirety. After 2012, the efforts should be still reinforced, because to stabilize the emissions is still to contribute very significantly to the warming.

Principle

“Neutrality carbon”:
- Admits that certain activities can less easily than others to compensate for their impacts in GES, but that one can compensate for them within the framework of other activities, essence being at least to reach an assessment balanced (neutrality) by compensating for any new emission of GES by the support for projects reducing the emissions of GES.
- relates to the new investments, like operation (. .soutien with the activities).
- can also be reached by conditioning investments with better an energy efficiency. grace for example to certifications of Very Energy High efficiency (THPE), and by developing renewable energies, public transport, etc.
- is evaluated in fine, like the compensation within the territory concerned (ex: area, for the case of the CPER (Plan contract State-Area), without possibility of compensation between areas).
- also aims at helping the vulnerable territories in a context of energy uncertainty.
- is a virtuous and teaching process, as the calculation of the ecological print if it is accompanied by compensation measurements and reduction.

Rem: One monétarise not the compensation (as in the case of the licenses to be polluted where the ton of carbon has a fluctuating price according to the market). Neutrality-carbon is evaluated in ton of carbon saved or absorptive by a carbon well, thus constituting a device laying down a political objective clearly at the regional partners. This principle which is an element of a first approach of the refunding of the ecological debt, integrates the constraints related to the methods of the contractualisation of the CPER: It could result in better energy comparisons of the various solutions in the impact studies. The contractors are thus obliged to better become aware of their new emissions direct and indirect of GES. They are invited to produce credible objectives in the short and medium term; while falling under the process of long run of factor 4 and sustainable development of their territory. Certain short lines should thus find of their attractivity. It is also an encouragement with the technological advancement and the energy Efficience during the renewal of the equipment. The development of a tool specific, single, to measure the emissions of GES a tool developped at the point with the assistance of several services of the State: DIACT (in the past DATAR) promotes the step and offers a methodological support and a tool for evaluation of the impact carbon: (calculator) considering the emissions potential of GES starting from the financial amounts of the contract, developped at the point by the research department Energies Tomorrow recommended by the interdepartmental Mission of the greenhouse effect (CRUMBS) and recognized by the ADEME. A steering committee created by the DIACT accompanies with the MEDD, the Ministry for Industry, the CRUMBS, the ADEME and the DIACT with presentation of the working hypotheses for the CPER with the Ministries for the Equipment and Agriculture.

The calculator allows the decision-making aid, by main categories of project, via:

  1. an evaluation a priori of the projects of mandate CPER during the negotiations (analyzes macro, starting from programs LOLF detailed with respect to a reference frame of intervention categories), with an objective of neutrality carbon which will be explained to the DIACT by the Prefects who will go up the draft contracts with the District councils.
  2. continuous follow-up of the impacts in GES of the financings of the European Operational (PO) Programs and the CPER, on the basis of financial information of the operations.
The DIACT and its partners work at the end of 2006 to adapt the tool “carbon evaluation” to PRESSING, the European tool of follow-up of the operations of PO (operational programs) for the years 2007-2013, PO often supplementing the financings of the CPER. Without additional seizures, the tool should calculate the impact of PO in term of contribution to the Greenhouse effect, which was a legal requirement (European subsidies not having normally to generate environmental impacts which was not evaluated and was compensated) within the framework of the Environmental Strategic Evaluation. : The tool “neutrality carbon” of the CPER offers a new approach, because one currently badly measures the emissions of GES of the activities and the territories. It will be refined with the evaluations and the knowledge brought by the observatories of gases to greenhouse effect (already operational in the Nord/Pas-de-Calais Area) new as regards emissions of GES that will not fail to acquire the territorial collectivities and the companies, in particular thanks to generalization of the assessments carbon developed by the ADEME.

Such a device could be, thereafter, easily wide with other categories of projects of territory, as that was proposed by the DIACT in the document of actualization of the National strategy of Sustainable development and was validated in Interministerial meeting.

Other variations in germ

The idea of countable neutrality joined the step of the ecological Empreinte already largely studied within the international framework.

Neutrality carbon, energy neutrality, neutrality water even neutrality waste are new fields of experiment which are tried by communities, ONG and/or multinational.

The search for a new model will pass by an irreproachable methodology of the objective of neutrality defended. An experimentation which will undoubtedly sucitera of long years of test per cycle concerned.

Limits or criticisms

The neutrality carbon is an approach or a tool inevitably not very precise which will have to be improved, which is envisaged by its originators. It proposes the direct responsibility for a level of territorial collectivity, evaluated by macroeconomic project of way without indicating such or such pollutant. This objective can be also declined on product, service, process, a company scale even of a banking strategy under its investments the following the example of Deposit and consignment office.

It does not prevent that which asks for a subsidy of propose itself a compensation, with the risk from thus making accept the financing of projects which are not necessarily ethical, useful or bearable.
Cette approach allows nonan increase in the emissions of GES, but not a division by 4 or 5. Those which think that there is urgency to act do not satisfy neutrality, and call for example écotaxes which could more quickly allow “factor 4”. Nevertheless the Facteur 4 is clearly announced like medium-term target by the DIACT, and if the tool is imperfect, one can hope that the margin of error will be to some extent smoothed by the average.

The taking into account of the true assessment carbon of electricity (of the upstream to the downstream of the die and in term of induced effects) is not the subject still of consensus (this why the computation softwares of the ecological Empreinte do not take it yet into account). Is it necessary to use a conversion factor into equivalent thunders/CO2 for the electric production? The States did not decide to do it for the moment.

See too

External bonds

  • Site of the DIACT, page devoted to the tool “Neutrality Carbon”.

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