-Hello. -Hello. -You are Strategy and Environmental planning Vice President. Which main environmental challenges do electric vehicles respond to? -The automotive industry must respond to three environmental challenges: the issues of climate, air quality in urban environments, and resources since some resources will start to be lacking and some are already in a critical state. Electric vehicles respond to the first two challenges. Regarding the issue of climate, we are able to decarbonate our mobility thanks to electric vehicles. And regarding air quality in urban environments, it is the ultimate response to the issue of vehicle emissions in cities. -Do you think the hierarchy between environmental issues is the same everywhere in the world? Or, to sell customers on electric vehicles, will you adopt different strategies? -The environmental emergencies vary according to the countries and to the markets. In Europe, we will insist on decarbonization issues. This is where we will have the more benefits in terms of climate since electricity is relatively decarbonated in Europe. And there are more and more active decarbonization plans. Some countries even have renewable energy rates over 50%, Denmark and Spain, for instance. So electric vehicles have particularly positive effects on climate issues. In other countries, such as China, electricity is not as decarbonated as it is in Europe. However, the immediate benefit on air quality in urban environments is essential there and it justifies the push from the government for the development of electric vehicles. -There are some questions regarding the impact of batteries on electric vehicles' environmental balance. Could you tell us more about your analysis on the subject? -I see the recycling of electric vehicle batteries as a wonderful opportunity to solve the resource issue. This is true for the battery but also for other car components, some materials are under strain and some are in a critical state to be supplied continuously and sustainably if we keep extracting them. Regarding materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel or copper, recycling is the solution. The main upside of electric vehicles, especially Renault's, is that we rent the batteries to most of our customers. We own the batteries, we keep track of them, and 100% of them will be collected and recycled. It is not complicated to recycle them and to recover the important materials. All of this is regulated and we absolutely manage to do it. So we have a product with an extremely high recycling rate. Lithium-ion batteries are also found in computers and cell phones with much lower collection rates. Do not worry, we will be able to recover the materials and turn this into a competitive advantage to restock and make new batteries. -In the end, does recycling help limit the impact of batteries on the environmental performance of a car? -The car's environmental performance is measured with standardized tools, life-cycle assessments. Several have been made and we have been collaborating with organizations which want to work with us on the matter. The balance is clearly positive for electric vehicles throughout the entire life cycle, from material extraction, vehicle and car manufacturing, usage and end of life. Recycling plays a part in offsetting the excessive impact of production. The latter is absolutely offset by the usage stage. In addition, we are documenting more and more of the benefits brought on by the contribution of the battery to the energy transition through smart charging and batteries' stationary second life. So we will have elements to boost the development of renewable energies. When you add it up, there is no doubt as to the environmental benefits of electric vehicles. -LFAs measure the impact on climate change, on eutrophization, etc., but what about air quality? -LFAs do not include it and I am glad you pointed it out. But we wanted to measure this impact. We worked with specialized organizations and cities who wanted to partner up to quantify what benefits we could get on this issue. We worked with Roma and Hong Kong. We showed that substituting about 20% of thermal vehicles by electric vehicles led to a 30% reduction in emissions as a whole and the pollutants we are exposed to. And in particularly polluted streets and areas, we went down under the admissible limit for individuals. This is significant and it helps convince the cities to implement public policy levers to promote electric vehicles. -During the COP 21, some speakers were travelling using ZOE or Nissan LEAF provided by Renault and the Renault-Nissan Alliance. How much will electric vehicles contribute to reaching the COP 21 goals? -We are already working on a long-term vision and a long-term roadmap to reach the goal of remaining under two degrees for transport sector. By 2050, we want to double our car fleet on a global level, which is huge. We would have to divide by 4 all emissions from individual vehicles. To do so, electric vehicles will be indispensable. This will have to be associated to a decarbonization of electricity as the states have agreed to. This is also indispensable. We will also need to reduce the amount of kilometers travelled per person. In other words, do away with the unnecessary, the time wasted looking for a space or in traffic jams. We should also be able to find solutions to this, thanks to connected and autonomous vehicles which will help us to better manage traffic, our trips, and the intermodality between means of transportation. -Thank you very much. -You are welcome.