A workshop took place yesterday on climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. It focused on the necessary coherence between these concepts and the mainstreaming of resilience through improved cooperation between water, agriculture and energy management.
Claude Nahon, EDF VP for
Sustainable Development, set the stage on the adaptation to climate change
theme from a private sector perspective and more specifically from an energy
company point of view. In power companies, water is the link between mitigation and adaptation
strategies.
Listen to Philippe Joubert, WBCSD's Managing Director for Energy and Climate, on the urgency of adaptation and mitigation, two sides of the same coin:
The awareness of business risks associated with scarcity issues - climate impacts core activities! - increased within the company with the European heat wave in 2003 which brought the company in the heart of the water and energy nexus, with an understanding of potential risks and of the necessity to anticipate. EDF understood that the transformation of climate would affect the way of conducting its activities, as for instance water availability concerns not only hydro-generation but is also key for running thermal power plants, and storms can impact networks. Action plans on extreme events (not only heat waves) were developed, and the water topic is now fully integrated within the company’s business lines. A carbon strategy has been developed in parallel to reduce the company’s footprint and promote the reduction of carbon intensity for its customers’ and partners.
Claude underlined (spontaneously!) that the collaborative work within WBCSD was the starting point of her awareness on the importance to develop a joint water and energy approach. Adaptation of the fleet and measures (as R&D modelling of rivers) is now part of EDF’s everyday business, with 400 million euros spent so far on various measures.
Listen to Claude requesting more business participation in the debate:
When and how to invest in transformation are key questions in this capital intensive industry, with infrastructure that is here for a long period of time and a difficulty to predict how climate change is going to play out. As Claude pointed out, mindsets have to change: facilities were built to resist to anything, but now the question is how to build in a resilient way, as we don’t know what will happen. We must shift from the oak to the wind. And we cannot do it on our own – understanding and resilience must be built in collaboration with the local and scientific communities, the authorities, other sectors of activity. Collaboration must be embedded in water management.
Ambassador Robert Van Lierop, Special Envoy for the Republic of Suriname, gave in a keynote speech in which he underlined the need to provide access to water, safe sanitation and hygiene regardless of income, gender, country of residence, perceived social status… He mentioned among others that water is life but can also be a threat to life, and that those who think their wealth will protect them live a fantasy as one catastrophic event could propel us all in a big unknown. “We either face the future together or none of us will have a future at all.”
Other speakers discussed the way forward on the implementation of coherent solutions and underlined the need to think about these concepts in concrete terms, not in opposition to one another. Risks and economic consequences are indeed very real. Dr Diego Rodriguez from the World Bank pointed out that the business case is clear and should be demonstrated in the languages of the different sectors of activity. The cooperation of all stakeholders is vital, and communities have to learn to become resilient in order to be able to face the unknown. The topic must definitely be looked at with a sense of urgency, a comprehensive approach, and not only as a process.
Comments