Greater Lyon's commitment to the Climate and Energy theme commenced in 2005 through Agenda 21, that focused on the greenhouse effect. In 2007, Greater Lyon initiated the implementation of a Climate and Energy Plan for its territory.

The new intercommunal entity of “Lyon Métropole” was established on 1 January 2015 with a population of 1.3 million people (Lyon with 500,000 inhabitants) and 59 communes.

Lyon Métropole has the following competences:

• Support for energy management actions including renewable energy development: the potential to create power plants for its own use or to seal it, support for renewables;
• Create, organise, maintain and manage heating and cooling in 6 districts;
• Concessions for public distribution of electricity and gas.

In 2015, the Energy Transition for Green Growth Act was adopted by the French national governement to provide a framework in which individuals, businesses, regions and the State can take actions together, setting medium- and long-term goals.

The Energy Masterplan was launched in 2015 and is the core of the Climate, Air and Energy Territorial Plan. A revised projection was approved for Horizon 2030 at the 6th Energy Climate conference in autumn 2019. The masterplan has the following goals:

• Provide guidelines to develop a metropolitan energy transition policy (control energy consumption, rationally develop energy networks, develop renewable energy, secure universal access to energy, etc.)
• Include energy as a core element of public policies and projects deriving from it (water resource and sanitation management, waste management, transportation, urban planning, housing, etc.).

This scheme is a four-year multidimensional and experimental process including the development of an energy model at the metropolitan scale and the definition of an energy strategy. An updated scheme was approved in May 2019 with the following objectives:

• a share of 17% of renewable energy in 2030
• a reduction of 43% of CO2 emissions compared to 2000
• a reduction of 30% energy consumption compared to 2000

The Climate, Air and Energy Territorial Plan includes 125 actions. It has been developed in a transversal way and is linked with other metropolitan public policies (housing, economic development, water and wastewater services, waste policy, transport and urban planning). For each action, the plan provides a technical pathway, an implementation deadline and an estimation of the budget.

The plan includes four main areas of action.

1) Housing and offices

The energy refurbishment of public and private housing reduces heating consumption. Landlords can benefit from support and financial aid from the Écoréno'v service. To support refurbishments in the social and private housing sector, Lyon Métropole approved a budget  of € 30 million.

By 2030, 200,000 housing units will have been renovated in the metropolis, including 100,000 with the help of Écoréno'v.

The Métropole will also renovate its real estate assets including administrative buildings and schools. These investments will reduce the energy consumption of these buildings by 40%.

The climate plan also recommends providing training to residents and office employees that will make significant energy savings by changing their habits.

2) Transport

By 2030, the number of journeys by bicycle will multiply by four due to the development of cycle paths, Vélo'v, fundings for electric bicycles, etc.

Thanks to the construction of new infrastructure, more and more people are using public transport. In 2020 public transport represents 22% of all journeys.

3) Industry and agriculture

Industries, particularly the ones located in the so-called “Chemical Valley”, continue to optimise their processes and organisation to reduce energy consumption. The Lyon Eco-Energy platform supports small and medium-sized businesses in their energy transition.

Lyon Métropole has many levers for engaging industries in the energy transition: management of district heating or air conditioning networks, creation and maintenance of charging infrastructures for electric and hybrid vehicles, etc.

4) A greener city

With global warming, more trees are needed to cool the city. By planting the appropriate tree species, the Metropolis of Lyon creates islands of coolness. Lyon Métropole plans to plant 3,000 trees every year between 2020 and 2030.

The territorial air climate energy plan also takes into account future global warming. The Metropolis of Lyon and its partners will therefore engage in research to anticipate these changes and think about how to adapt the city for the future.

Confluence urban project

The Lyon Confluence Urban renewal scheme was awarded the eco-district label by the Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development and the Sea. Starting in 2000 and ongoing until 2030, the development of the Lyon Confluence urban project takes place in an area of 150 hectares. Half of the area was an existing neighbourhood whilst the other half is comprised of new construction and public spaces. The Confluence area, which will double the size of the Lyon city, will not involve an increase of greenhouse gas emissions due to:

• The increase of local renewable energy production (photovoltaic and district heating);
• The construction of new buildings with high energy performance, including positive energy blocks;
• Energy retrofitting of the existing neighbourhood;
• Sustainable mobility;
• The development of a smart grid, via an energy data management platform.

Citizens and associations involved in the climate plan

In 2019, the Métropole of Lyon with residents, associations and companies embarked on the "We're all getting on board" campaign. The Métropole has organised:

• an awareness day at the Grand Parc Miribel Jonage on 30 June 2019,
• approximately twenty collaborative workshops to work together to develop new solutions. 100 proposals have been integrated into the new Climate, Air and Energy Territorial Plan.

The Metropolis initiated a citizen participation process that accompanied the development of the Climate Plan, relying in particular on associations in the field. Through extensive consultation between March and September 2019, 500 participants were able to contribute new ideas for concrete action: the booklet of "100 proposals for the climate" is the result of this work.

Citizens will also be involved in the implementation of the plan. The expertise and know-how of local associations will guarantee effective implementation of the Climate Plan. Citizens will be able to monitor the implementation of the PCAET thanks to regular and transparent communication on the measures adopted.

The energy-climate conference brings together the key players in the energy, transport, housing, tertiary and industrial sectors. It was established in 2010 to develop the "2020 Vision for a low carbon conurbation" and the first action plan. The partners then met every two years to share the progress of the climate plan. From 2015 onwards, the energy master plan strengthened and renewed the mobilisation of partners through a call for contributions and three seminars and working groups to build the trajectory to 2030. The 5th energy-climate conference and the 3rd overall seminar of the energy master plan brought together 100 partners in 2017.

In 2019, when the new PCAET was written, the partnership approach was renewed: it was proposed to the historical partners, but also to all the stakeholders in the region whose activity presents a strong challenge for the climate to join the climate plan. In autumn 2019, the energy-climate conference met for the 6th time to share the common commitment to 2030. It brought together 145 partners, of which there are three types:

• institutions (municipalities, State, region, universities, hospitals, other public entitities),
• companies (industries and businesses, energy producers and distributors, mobility players), and
• community organisations (professional federations and associations, social landlords, residents' associations, etc.).

Any organisation wishing to join the partnership can send an official request in which it adheres to the 2030 vision of the Metropolis and indicates the actions it will implement to actively contribute to the objectives outlined in the Partnership Action Plan. Every two years, each partner declares the results of its actions, which are included in the "progress report" and shared at the energy-climate conference.

Since the first Climate Plan, adopted in 2012, the Métropole has implemented monitoring and evaluation methods in order to integrate them into the continuous improvement of its plan. Monitoring and evaluation of the Climate Plan is organised on three levels:

1) The monitoring dashboard lists the operational actions (~200) steered by representatives from the different departments of the Métropole. It is updated on an annual basis.

2) The "milestones" are comprehensive documents published every two years. They bring together the assessment of the framework actions of the climate plan, the actions of the Métropole and those of its partners.

3) The Cit'ergie program assesses the performance of Lyon Métropole from an external perspective. It gives the Métropole the opportunity to compare itself to the best European standards, on a 4-year cycle.

Today, the Lyon Métropole is recognised at a national level for its partnership approach in the development and monitoring of its Climate, Air and Energy Territorial Plan.

There is a challenge of territorialisation, that is, to develop a diagnosis and a strategy at an infracommunal scale, following a multi-sectoral approach.

Lessons learned from the Metropolis MEGA project:

There is no one-size fit all. No two cities or metropolitan areas are alike. The policies applicable in metropolitan areas will depend and be shaped very much on what is possible based on national and regional policy objectives (such as economic development goals, health consid-erations, energy security issues) and constraints (such as limited resources, increasing energy prices, etc).

All metropolitan áreas in France?  have already taken the decision to adopt ambitious renewable energy targets by 2030 and to promote energy efficiency as part of their policies towards a low carbon economy. However, it is not an easy path. Revisions need to be made as to what extent these ambitions are realistic and practicable, as some objectives might not be applicable for different regions due to different characteris-tics at local level (e.g. density of urban areas, wind potential, etc) and need to be “territorialised”.

Although the different metropolitan areas vary in size, population density, level of development, climate, deployment of renewables, level of resources, etc, each metropolitan area focuses on a specific aspect to pave the way to a sustainable energy system.

The cross-cutting and transversal nature of energy and its importance on a regional scale requires an integrated approach and working closely with other departments at metropolitan level, such as economy, urban planning, housing, industrial development, transport and mobility and resource management, among others. Effective and collaborative interdisciplinary working with multiple departments (e.g. urban planning, ecology, economy, etc) results in a better understanding of the multi-faceted energy challenges and offers better outcomes.

The engagement of civil society in designing and implementing a new energy model is a crucial aspect in the process of transition towards a low carbon economy.

While the potential for renewables is high, it varies greatly depending on each city’s characteristics. Population density, growth prospects, availability of natural resources in the territory and neighbouring areas and energy consumption in cold versus hot climates all shape the opportunities to introduce renewables, including the vast growth potential for uses in urban buildings and transport. Accordingly, deployment strategies must be tailored to technology options and policy frameworks for each city.

https://www.metropolis.org/sites/default/files/resources/MEGA-Metropolis-Energy-Governance.pdf#page=11

https://blogs.grandlyon.com/plan-climat/wp-content/blogs.dir/8/files/2020/09/01-PCAET_MetropoleDeLyon_2019-2030-VersionMAJ.pdf.pdf

https://www.grandlyon.com/projets/plan-climat.html