The world demographic explosion, the world population increased from 225 million in 1820 to 7.5 billion today, has led to a total reorganization of urban areas. By 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people are expected to live in cities. In concrete terms, it means that 2 out of 3 people in the world will be living in urban areas within 30 years, if this UN forecast is accurate. This perspective leads to deep reflection on the structuring of such urban spaces in order for them to remain sustainable. Today, it must be recognized that our cities need to begin their transition to more inclusive, sustainable and resilient models. Indeed, 70% of the world’s GDP is concentrated in urban areas, but 70% of the total waste happens there as well, which gives rise to an alarming figure: 60% of greenhouse effect gases are concentrated on 2% of the planet’s surface.

Overview and challenges for cities in transition:

This transition to a sustainable model faces many challenges, including the rise of social, economic and cultural inequalities. One example is Paris, within 10 years the city has seen its number of homeless people increase by 84%, not to mention migration-related inflows. This explosion of precariousness on the streets is partly due to the high densification of urban areas, and that is why the promotion of the “Living Together” movement through local initiatives, which is a major factor in the creation of social cohesion, makes more and more sense.

From a climatic point of view, forecasts for 2050 predict temperatures reaching 50 degrees in the shade during heat wave in Paris. Moreover, it should be noted that at present time, air pollution kills as many people as alcohol and, as Sebastien Maire, Senior Manager of Resilience at the City of Paris, points out: “you can choose not to drink, more difficult to choose not to breathe”. A logic of integration of the city into its territory is becoming more and more urgent in the light of the existing pressure in rural areas. For instance, even if we encourage the development of less emissive materials such as wood, this will automatically have an impact on forests, the overall challenge here is to focus on the entire life cycle of each of our actions.

This state of play leads to the following conclusion:  Paris cannot be considered as a city integrated into a territorial policy, as evidenced by its population density of 21,000/Km², the highest in Europe, the 4th highest in the world and approximately the equivalent of Mumbai in India. To evolve, metropolitan areas like Paris will have to make use of technological innovations while betting on the fact that 60% of the infrastructure at the end of the century is not yet built today.

Which stakeholders of the transition?

Initiatives involving the consumer:

This observation suggests rethinking the actual consideration of urban spaces towards a more local territorial vision where the priority would be now to find actors involved in this transition, but above all to understand their complementarities. The construction of the cities of tomorrow requires a multi-stakeholder approach where each stakeholder will bring its own pedagogy.

As the main actor in the ecological transition, the role of the citizen must also evolve from consumer to consum’actor in order to achieve a paradigm shift. To enable such behavioral change, many companies and associations are created with the aim of raising awareness and encouraging citizens to become the driving force behind the construction and evaluation of the city. To this end, concrete service offers are made in order to include the city dweller in the sustainable transition of his/her city (see inset of the inclusive solutions for a sustainable city presented at the Forum).

A growing awareness of companies with negative externalities in their territory

The trend for multinationals is also to commit for the transition in the light of the impact they have on their territories of action. While their main strategic area of activity remains a source of negative externalities, many are working to transform their practices and are beginning to open up to clearing activities. To structure this emerging ecological awareness within the private sector, often technical in its implementation, organizations experts in sustainable transformation of companies put their experience to work for these major groups. Some of these actors were present at the Convergences Forum such as Ekodev to discuss alternative mobility in companies, a structure aiming to advise and implement sustainable programs within companies. Consulting firms such as Deloitte also support companies through the development of their sustainable development branch, which specializes in the transition and transformation of professional practices. It

Indeed, the carbon offsetting of the event was done through a precise evaluation of the event’s emissions in the first instance. Then to the financing of a project with a positive carbon footprint, thus allowing Convergences to achieve a balance in their emissions. The project in question was voted by the participants in the Forum among a panel proposed by EcoAct, it is possible to find the results on the Convergences website. A model that EcoAct applies to many corporate projects.

Role and impact of public authorities

On a completely different scale, international organizations such as the R20, which are intended to help sub-state governments and local authorities, have emerged. They propose to support the development of projects with a social impact, such as reducing carbon emissions, for example. This type of structure acts in a transversal way by covering social, economic, cultural, environmental and resilience sectors. Such initiatives now exist above all to support the implementation of actions by local public authorities.

Under these conditions, the role of cities and territories is to provide a framework for action and to be a catalyst for them (Example of the Paris carbon neutral objective for 2050). The objective is really to trigger the acceleration of this transition by mobilizing actors able to promote innovation. To take concrete action, public authorities have several levers for action, such as supporting the development of markets with green and sustainable bonds, investing in SMEs focused on sustainable cities (air quality, circular economy, sustainable buildings). In most cases, it is necessary to mobilize both public and private capital in order to obtain synergies of skills and thus have the greatest possible impact. Partnerships of this type are real accelerators of initiatives. For example is the Paris lighting, which is the result of an alliance between the private company EVESA and the Paris City Hall.

The issue of financing can also be addressed unilaterally by the private sector, as the example of solidarity banks shows. Initiatives of this type help accelerating the transition to sustainable models by financing innovation. For example, La Nef, which is present at the Forum Convergences, is a specialized credit institution in the form of a cooperative. Its status allows it to offer savings and credit solutions oriented towards projects with a social, ecological and/or cultural utility. It is through the creation of financial tools for citizen participation that it sets in motion and supports new ways of producing, consuming, undertaking and living.

Recycling, a central sector of the sustainable transition of cities and inclusive of all stakeholders. Focus on the challenges of plastics and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

To illustrate these new partnerships between the various transition actors, recycling seems to be one of the most appropriate issues. Indeed, this activity requires particular attention and follow-up from all existing stakeholders if it want to be operational on a large scale. It is the result of a long process and includes a multitude of actors, from the company to the citizen and including local authorities. To promote such initiatives, companies as CITEO are created with the objective of developing an ecosystem around the circular economy and thus meeting the two main current recycling constraints: technology and economics. Driven by the companies themselves, this structure aims to respond to the entire recycling chain by providing support ranging from eco-design to communication and compliance.

Focus on plastic:

Worldwide, plastic production is exponential. In 20 years, more plastic has been produced than in 50 years before 1998. Plastic production generates 400,000 tons of CO2 worldwide each year, the equivalent of the emissions of a country like France. The Coca-Cola Company has launched a large-scale campaign with the objective of recovering 100% of the plastic packaging produced by the brand by 2030. Nevertheless, as Arnaud Rolland, CSR Director at Coca-Cola European Partners France, reminds us, today the demand for recycled plastic is greater than the supply. This is a paradox in France, given that every second bottle is recycled.

However, a ton of plastic costs 1000 euros and companies know it. In addition, the more complicated the packaging, the more packaging there is, and the higher the costs will be for the company: both for production and recycling. This observation calls for greater efforts to be made in terms of technological innovation, which is still too limited today, particularly in terms of recycling and alternative materials. It is necessary to create materials that do not generate waste or non-disposable waste with a new logistics circuit.

The process is therefore underway in some large companies and the main blocking points are the lack of homogenization of an ecosystem where all stakeholders should be included in the process. Under these conditions, as Arnaud Schwartz of France Nature Environnement and member of the European Economic and Social Committee points out, it is crucial to sensitive citizens through partnerships with public and private organizations about this transgenerational issue.

The development of this sector therefore lies in the synchronization of these actors in order to be as efficient as possible. All strata are concerned by the need to simplify sorting for households by modernizing sorting centers so that, by 2025, no packaging remains without a solution (plastic/aluminum mixture). It is also a question of organizing a collection “in a colossal way” by raising awareness among citizens. The production actors must also review their model by integrating more technological innovations, thus reducing their environmental impact.

Focus on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE):

In a completely different approach, the management of WEEE, especially in developing countries, poses very different challenges: rapid growth and significant management constraints in view of some of the toxic components that constitute them. The fact that recycling is not yet part of local culture, in Africa for example, and that people keep their old equipment is an additional challenge in the treatment of WEEE.

The WEEECAM project, which received the IPPAG International Convergence Award, initiated by Solidarité Technologique, for the moment located in Cameroon but which could be exported to the rest of Africa, aims to collect and process these WEEE. This project aims to demonstrate the economic viability of recycling through institutional and financial partnerships while including civil society in the process. The question here is who should be included in such a mechanism and how. Theoretically, European countries are also responsible for the management of electronic waste because they are the producing countries. African governments are more concerned with security and defense but should set up a legal framework on WEEE, and local institutions must be made responsible for the implementation of legal texts in this area. NGOs, such as Solidarité Technologique, have the role of contributing to raising everyone’s awareness in order to create a homogeneous whole that acts as an ecosystem.

Valuation of innovations and good practices:

Innovation is at the center of the evolution of good practices. However, in order for their impact to be real, it is crucial to give them visibility, which is not always the case. It is under these conditions that the CGET and La Fonda have promoted the “carrefour des innovations sociales” (crossroads of social innovations), a project that aimed at identifying all the social innovations in France. This tool will make it possible to visualize good practices as a whole, a major challenge, particularly in the context of the transition of cities. Indeed, having a national and precise vision of territorial innovations makes it possible to promote the networking of project leaders and support staff and thus boost the sector.

The revitalization of territories involves also in many cases the creation of complementary and citizen local currencies. Indeed, this trend reflects a general desire on the part of citizens to be inked in their territory and is a credible alternative for consumption. A practice that requires a global change in consumption habits but allows the development of local innovations. With a desire to develop short circuits and circular economy through partnerships and synergies, MLCCs respond to the challenge of accessibility and visibility among the initiators of good practices. These awareness-raising tools against overconsumption help guide citizens towards services that are committed to the sustainable transition of their territory. Today, there is the problem of financing and developing a sustainable business model that would bring these new currencies into a broader dimension. To do this, more than 30 local currencies have gathered to create the “Mouvement Sol” in order to raise their voice up to public authorities. Among them, the Convergence World Forum had the opportunity to host La Gonette: local currency of the Lyon area, Une monnaie pour Paris (A currency for Paris): La Pêche and Mytroc with its nuts. In this sense, these structures are increasing calls to public authorities through media forums such as the one in Le Monde published last March.

In order to make these initiatives more accessible to the citizen, the POI Company aims to digitize part of the process by using the “block chain” as a basis. This application will reward responsible consumption by offering local currency. This initiative will connect currencies and facilitate their acquisition.