Mr. Borloo gave the following interview to Soazig Quéméner from Le Journal du Dimanche, a french newspaper while conducting intensive international negotiations before COP15. Published on October 31 2009.

Jean-Louis Borloo

So France has a new plan to “Save Copenhagen”…

The plan is something of a dream but it is also real: above all it is a political project. It is time for a revolution in our thinking. When we are speaking of climate negotiations, we cannot offer the same assistance to China and India as we offer to Bangladesh. We are trying to construct a global project which should not be the kind of negotiation which sets countries up as opponents. This of course implies a reduction in greenhouse gases by industrialized countries – with the added difficulty of countries, like for example, the United States, which have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. We also want a genuine deal with the large emerging nations, China, India and Brazil. They must come up with a coherent plan for controlling their carbon intensity. Apart from that, we are developing a plan, which we call for the moment “climate justice”, for the most vulnerable countries.

“Climate justice”?

We the industrialized countries, who have polluted a great deal, must organize ourselves to finance the development of renewable energies in the most vulnerable countries. These countries represent 1.2 billion people and they are the ones who suffer the most violent consequences of climate change. What with this impact, their economic handicap and their absence from major international negotiations, they suffer a “triple punishment”! France wants to build a road to social and ecological justice. I have met with representatives from the 80 poorest countries of the world. Whereas some of them were completely discouraged and had even considered not  attending Copenhagen, today they have all agreed to go down this road. It is an excellent sign that the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has been chosen to speak at Copenhagen in the name of all Africans. We are in the process of building truly worldwide solidarity on climate.

In the middle of an economic crisis? The industrialized countries will say that their pockets are empty…

Helping the poor countries will benefit all of humanity. We must not forget that they possess a real potential for development. Moreover, we are not introducing a tax. We are looking for innovative sources of funding, for example on financial transactions. The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, is heading a group which is examining the mechanisms of that source. This money must be allocated to specific projects such as hydraulic dams, solar generators or wind farms. They will be managed transparently with retroactive supervision so that no-one is discouraged from going ahead.

You produce a new plan one month before Copenhagen!  Won’t France be accused of sabotage?

On the contrary. We want Copenhagen to succeed. For that to happen, we must fight against posturing and misunderstandings. We must propose the most ambitious agreement that we possibly can. An agreement of good faith which allows all parties to emerge as the winners. Twelve years ago, the Kyoto summit was a fabulous step forward, but this was lost in exhausting and useless negotiation and bargaining. A simple, real and detailed agreement, providing a true dynamic, is both necessary and possible. The mechanisms will take perhaps one year to put into place. Mankind can pull itself together and finally show solidarity.

Where did this idea come from ?

It was in Africa, in 2008, that I understood that we should build on the basis of justice and, at the same time, stay very close to grassroots reality. It was when I saw the intensity of deforestation in the Congo Basin, and above all when I realized that this was driven by domestic uses: mothers were making trees disappear! Shortly afterwards, in Cotonou, Benin, I met a young man who was trying to set up a call center which could only operate for three hours each day. The rest of the time, there was no electricity. Yet I am convinced that Africa can become the biggest producer of renewable energy in the world! Of course I discussed this with our President, Nicolas Sarkozy, before I started canvassing the countries concerned. I have had to listen to them, to take their needs into account, in order for this plan to be developed. I have been working on this for two years. We made major progress two weeks ago in Ouagadougou, Burkino Fasso, and this is continuing today on this tour of South-East Asia. The President of France wants to save Copenhagen. After his success in crafting the European agreement, he alone has the capacity and the international weight to do so.

What makes you think you will succeed?

I have met almost everyone. Nobody disputes the basis of our argument. Who, in any case, could possibly oppose it publicly? Even indifference is not an option. Our country’s credibility in this matter has been firmly established since the national “Grenelle” of the environment and the European Energy-Climate Packet. The universal France is back. But when you present a plan like that, you always have doubts. None of this will work unless it brings victory for all of its parties – not for one country, nor for one man.

Translation by Jeremy Mell and Thierry Buttin.
Read the original interview in French on the JDD’s website