IVM has launched a program of public hearings, led by a group of European experts (academics, businesses, local authorities, specialists in the environment, innovation, new technologies and public policy, economists, etc.).
The aim of this program is to explore how the USA – the ultimate nation of mobility – is currently dealing with the challenges of mobility and energy within the context of climate change, in particular by promoting and supporting the development of “clean” or “green” technologies.
What specific factors (urban, economic, cultural, sociological, institutional and political) need to be taken into account? What role is played by the cities, the states, the federal government? What respective weight is given to the question of energy and the prospect of climate change? What specific forms of public intervention exist in the USA? In what way can they contribute to the development of technological innovation in the environmental sphere and to the construction of new markets? What repercussions may these “new frontiers” have for urban dynamics and urban mobility?
The purpose of these public debates between American and European experts is to obtain a better understanding of US approaches to the subject and of the potential of Cleantech industries and technologies to foster a diversification of approaches and of views, to contribute to the debate in France – and more modestly in other countries – and to identify the issues and potential for action, whether public, organizational or industrial.
The context
Different assessments and analyses blame one third of greenhouse gas emissions on transportation. Considered as the entities that regulate or organize much of this mobility, the cities are being called upon by international bodies and Governments to take action against these emissions. Their responses differ from country to country and continent to continent. In Europe, the primary response to climate change is to reduce mobility. The USA seems to propose other ways of dealing with climate change. There, technological innovations are presented as a way of reducing greenhouse gases without cutting back on mobility.
Objectives
This program explores these other ways of approaching the links between mobility and climate change in the USA in order to add these observations into the current mix of public debate on the subject in France and in Europe.
▪ Contributing to a diversity of approaches and a comparison of views on the subject.
▪ Helping to consolidate the links between American researchers and the French community of experts working on the city and public policy. In preparing this project, links have been established with scientists at the universities of Davis-California, Illinois, Texas, New York and Chicago.
▪ Establishing a zone of comparison on public policy and the environment in Europe and the United States.
The subject of the hearings are the development of financial markets linked with the environment and climate change in the USA, California, Climate plans, IT, Assessing the impact of Cleantech, the Law and electric mobility. These sessions help develop a better understanding of approaches to mobility and climate change in the fast-changing conditions of the USA today: new president, acute economic crisis, questioning of the roles and model adopted by industries and public bodies responsible for mobility.
