Challenges and prospects

At the Energy Transition Annual Conference, “A Collective Commitment: Review and Prospects”, Céline Caron-Dagioni, Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development, highlighted the various challenges involved in the energy transition and prospects for the future:

Renovating buildings

Monaco has around 1,500 buildings. While the newer ones are efficient in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, with an urban renewal rate of 1% per year, it would take a century to replace all of the current stock... 

To achieve our goals, we will therefore need to renovate existing buildings. Everything is in place to support such renovations: subsidised energy audits; alternatives to fossil fuels; subsidies for comprehensive renovation projects or specific types of work such as window renovations, roof insulation, photovoltaic panels and solar thermal energy.

Details of the support available and actions to promote building renovations are available at: https://energy-transition.gouv.mc/Energy-Transition/Means-of-action

Eliminating fossil gas

The State is taking action to support the elimination of gas which, in 2020, accounted for 15% of our CO2 emissions, exceeding fuel oil (11%). The main alternative which has been proposed is to replace gas boilers with heat pumps. As was the case with fuel oil, the idea is to support the elimination of gas by using incentives, offering a subsidy to install heat pumps, before introducing a regulatory requirement to eliminate its use.

You can find details of the latest state assistance for installing heat pumps at:

https://energy-transition.gouv.mc/Energy-Transition/Means-of-action/Subsidies/Building-renovations-Heat-pump-subsidy-and-call-for-exemplary-renovation-projects

Reducing waste at source

Over the last few years, new regulations have been introduced to reduce the use of plastic with the aim of achieving zero single-use plastic by 2030. Teams are working with businesses, particularly in the restaurant sector, to support them with this change and suggest alternative solutions to plastic. MaConsigne, a returnable glass container scheme that launched in June 2022, is flourishing. The challenge continues to lie in taking action and persuading as many users as possible.

Do something for the planet and start using MaConsigne: https://maconsigne.com/

In the building sector, reductions will be achieved by undertaking renovations or by promoting the circular economy. As such, the initiative launched as part of the Villa Carmelha or Bel Air public projects is set to expand and will help to facilitate the integration of reused elements in projects with larger numbers of available parts. It is also encouraged in the BD2M (Sustainable Mediterranean Buildings of Monaco) standard adopted for all public buildings.

For full details of the BD2M initiative: https://transition-energetique.gouv.mc/BD2M

The coming years will see the development of the Symbiose project, the future waste processing and recycling centre that will replace the current waste treatment plant, positioning the Principality as a pioneer. With Symbiose, waste will be processed to remove plastic fragments and contaminated plastic in order to create a fuel that emits as little CO2 as possible, which will be used to supply energy to buildings in the western part of the Principality. 

Encouraging soft, shared and low-carbon mobility

The Government’s policy on promoting electric transport has borne fruit: 13.7% of the total fleet is now made up of clean-energy vehicles; 10% of two-wheeled vehicles were electric at the end of December 2022. The use of electricity is expanding to vehicles other than those belonging to private individuals, thanks to changes in technology which mean that the necessary reliability is now available. For example, waste disposal vehicles are now electric and the transition to electric buses is already underway with the aim of all buses being electric by 2025.

For full details on electric driving in Monaco, see: https://energy-transition.gouv.mc/Energy-Transition/Electric-driving-in-Monaco

The regulation of vehicles entering and leaving the Principality requires close cooperation with our neighbours who also suffer the disruption caused by traffic. In Monaco, there is the question of sharing public space among the different transport options and the place of street-level parking to resolve conflicts of use in a limited space. Consideration of this issue offers an opportunity to improve quality of life by providing more space for plants. More individually, it is up to each of us to think about the travel choices we make, depending on the time or circumstances.