Thierry Kovacs, Vice-president in charge of the environment and positive ecology for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region
In this 5th interview of In The MIX.E, Thierry Kovacs, Vice-president in charge of the environment and positive ecology for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, presents the Region’s commitments in the energy transition and its projects to meet the challenges of the energy crisis.
There are two major challenges posed by the energy transition for Thierry Kovacs: climate change, the consequences of which we see on a daily basis, and the problem of energy with the energy crisis and the price of energy from which everyone is suffering.
For him, these two challenges must be turned into opportunities: decarbonising our energies, switching to renewable energies and hydrogen, but without forgetting nuclear power, in order to gain sovereignty and free ourselves from producer countries that set their own prices (for example, the United States with their liquefied gas) and thus meet the current challenges.
Net Zero
In order to accelerate the process towards Net Zero, there are concrete actions at the regional level. One example is the major decarbonisation plan launched as part of the Regional Plan for Sustainable Development and Equality of Territories (SRADDET) and the major objectives set. The challenge: sector by sector (mobility, agriculture, tertiary sector, etc.): to take stock of greenhouse gas emissions and to quantify the possible reductions in these emissions by 2030 and then 2050.
One of the AURA Region’s emblematic projects for all this is this call for projects as part of the major solarisation plan. The aim of this plan is to accelerate the solarisation of agricultural buildings and the roofs of companies in these territories. The first call for projects to identify all those ready to receive solar on their roofs resulted in no less than 570 different projects and 45 hectares of solar panels to be installed.
They are therefore building this call for projects, which will enable them to offer these 570 project leaders – companies or a group of companies – the possibility of carrying out a feasibility study, ordering, installing, and assisting with the signing of self-consumption and surplus resale contracts, perhaps even up to the point of operation.
For Thierry Kovacs, it is important to participate in MIX.E because there is an urgency to act: all the initiatives that can be taken like this exhibition to highlight this collective capacity of citizens and companies to respond to the climate and energy crisis must be supported.
5th interview of the In the MIX.E podcast series to be found on our website.
Expert :
Thierry KOVACS – Vice-president in charge of the environment and positive ecology (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region)