Insulate to build better

I recently saw tweets from Laurence Tubiana, President of the European Climate Foundation, denouncing France's lag in energy efficiency. A subject that, as you are beginning to know, is particularly close to my heart. In it, she says two things that call for attention.

Firstly, that the energy efficiency target proposed by Brussels would save around 21 billion euros on the energy bills of French households in 2030. Then, it cites a startling statistic: France has 7.2 million homes in the "thermal flaws" category, mostly occupied by low-income families.

On the same day, Complément d'Enquête on French TV channel France 2 revealed that only 13,400 homes had been renovated in 2022. I always remind people in my speeches that the fight against climate change is the economic opportunity of the century. It's not being cynical to say this, it's simply playing on one of the most effective means of getting things moving in the right direction. And in this case, it is even more obvious that renovation offers a unique return on investment, especially for those families with low incomes! Solutions that protect the environment through improved efficiency increase the purchasing power of citizens. What can we say then when the solution itself, in addition to protecting the environment during its use, is derived from recycling or is based on natural components?

This is the case with Pavatex and Univercell, two ranges of thermal and acoustic insulation products from Soprema. These two families of materials are based on wood fibre for the first, and on recycled paper (cellulose wadding) for the second. As recycled paper is becoming increasingly scarce due to falling newspaper sales, Soprema has succeeded in recovering glassine waste. Glassine is the backing paper for the self-adhesive labels used on wine bottles, for example. This may seem trivial, but more than 50,000 tonnes of glassine are produced in France every year, 95% of which ends up being incinerated. Soprema offers a new high-performance insulation based on this waste, which can be recycled again after use. This way, a polluting and costly waste product is recycled by becoming a new thermal and acoustic insulator and a tool for improving the energy performance of buildings. This is a perfect example of the circular economy and, above all, of the logical and realistic ecology that I advocate for.

It is clear that climate action is also social action. The debate about thermal flaws and renovation, as we saw again at the Agriculture Show in Paris, is a cause of great concern and injustice. There is a lack of understanding in the face of inaction, even though all these solutions, such as those of Soprema, are there to implement this ambitious plan to achieve 'low consumption' in the building sector before 2050. It is only by using accessible solutions, but also by having consistent political decisions, that France and other country will be able to achieve this goal. They have everything to gain. And to lose if they do not.