People Are Ready To Accept Changes To Save The Planet, Says Veolia CEO

The general public are far more aware of the consequences of climate change and ready to adapt than many politicians think, according to the CEO of the environmental services provider Veolia.

Speaking to Forbes, Estelle Brachlianoff said people are “far more ready” than some leaders think they are and understand “we have to act now” or face the more expensive consequences later on.

She said recent developments like the energy crisis, summer heatwaves and the war in Ukraine have made people more aware of issues like sustainability, food security and the need to develop locally sourced, renewable energy.

Veolia has just published the details of a worldwide survey by the French research and consulting firm, Elabe, which Brachlianoff said will be “shocking reading” for some politicians.

The survey shows that more than two thirds (67%) of the world’s inhabitants are certain that the costs of the consequences of climate change will be greater than any investments needed to tackle the issue.

A similar figure (60%) said they are ready to accept the economic, cultural and social changes necessary, provided there are no health risks and the solutions are proven to be useful.

The survey also found the majority (56%) of people around the world believe the solutions to mitigate pollution and climate change are not being sufficiently talked about.

Brachlianoff said the survey shows people around the world understand that the “cost of inaction will actually be higher than the cost of action” and they want to find out more about possible solutions, provided they are fair and effective.

“They’ve understood that the stakes will be far higher later on, and if we don’t act now, there is going to be a more expensive tomorrow,” she told Forbes.

But she added that public opinion is “not going to be fooled by a cherry on the cake” and people want “useful solutions that are scalable”.

She said trying to derive biogas energy out of waste and wastewater could be “one part of the jigsaw” and will mean energy supplies will not “depend on a guy turning on and off a gas pipe far away from here”.

And developing facilities to recycle wastewater would also help tackle issues like water scarcity, which has been a big issue in France over the last 12 months.

Brachlianoff said one of the issues holding back the deployment of the large-scale deployment of such solutions is red tape.

Companies like Veolia need a single point of entry to get the authorization they need, instead of “knocking on 20 doors” she added.

She said Veolia is also looking at solutions designed at tackling soil and air pollution.

Last year, Veolia announced a joint initiative with Jean-Michel Genestier, mayor of Le Raincy in Paris to make it the first town in France to guarantee 100% good air in its local school.

Veolia will continuously assess the quality of the air in the classrooms in real time and then deploy solutions to renew and treat the air inside the school building.

“We may not have all the solutions to fix everything, but let’s act on those we already have at our disposal,” added Brachlianoff.

Elabe’s president of research, Bernard Sananès added the new survey shows public opinion is convinced that “we are currently experiencing the end of a world, but not the end of the world”.

“While solutions to reduce our ecological impact are still little debated, this study helps us understand the conditions of their acceptability in order to accelerate the ecological transformation,” he added.

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