Sujet 2 - Partie 2 · Bac Anglais, monde contemporain Métropole 2024

Document A

Sheffield named as UK’s most sustainable city

It is a city that was once described by George Orwell as the “ugliest town in the old world”.

In Sheffield, he wrote in 1936, “in whichever direction you look you see the same landscape of monstrous chimneys pouring forth smoke”.

But today, things are somewhat different: the South Yorkshire city has just been named the greenest in the UK.

Researchers from the University of Southampton ranked the country’s biggest 25 urban centres for their sustainability – and this one-time industrial powerhouse came out top. 1

Its wide-open spaces (a third of the city famously sits within the Peak District), millions of trees and a comparatively high volume of renewable energy production all helped the Steel 2 City top the table. [...]

Douglas Johnson, Sheffield City Council’s Green Party cabinet member for climate change, said: “It’s nice to be recognised but, as a city, we now need to go further and faster to reach net-zero by 2030.”

He added that hundreds of the city’s least energy-efficient homes were currently being reinsulated 3 with government grants, while millions of pounds were being ploughed 4 into building and upgrading walking and cycling routes to connect areas right across the city.

The Independent, 30 October 2021

1 The results were published in the Green Cities Report.

2 acier

3 to reinsulate: refaire l'isolation

4 invested

Document B

Labour pledges to make Sheffield the Steel City once again

Ahead of her speech at Labour conference today, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, 1 announced that the party would set up a “National Wealth Fund” for the state to invest directly in projects like steel to create a return for taxpayers and rebuild industrial areas. [...]

Sheffield has long been dubbed the Steel City of the UK, after spearheading the industrial revolution in the 19th century as the manufacturing centre of the country.

Through the 80s the city lost around 50,000 jobs in steel and engineering.

“The steel industry is the backbone of Britain,” Ed Miliband, Labour's shadow climate change secretary, 1 told the Yorkshire Post.

“In contrast to a decade of neglect from the Tories, Labour will invest in our steel industry so it has a proud future producing clean, green steel.

“We will stand with steelworkers, unions and communities to put the industry on a path to lead the world.

“Labour's National Wealth Fund is about rebuilding our industrial strength to produce jobs and wealth for the people of Britain.” [...]

[The plan] aims to create long-term wealth in the UK by investing in national projects which could include battery factories. [...]

The projects also include the world’s largest hydrogen electrolyser plant and net-zero industrial clusters in every region of the country. [...]

Labour argued that when public money is spent on these projects, British people would own a share of that wealth and benefit from any returns on investments. [...]

Ms Reeves will argue [...]: “That is a real plan for the climate. That is a real plan for growth. That is a real plan for levelling up.

“A zero carbon economy – made right here… made in Britain.”

The Yorkshire Post, 26 September 2022

1 Members of the Shadow Cabinet are spokespersons of the opposition in charge of examining and questioning the work of the government.

Document C

Sheffield – Europe’s greenest city?

Martin Phipps [councillor for Sheffield Green Party] writes on the recent report about Sheffield being the UK’s most sustainable city. [...]

A third of Sheffield is within the Peak District national park, 60% is green space and we have 250 parks, woodlands and gardens plus 4.5 million trees – the most per person in Europe. We all benefit from this.

But the phrase “Europe’s greenest city” has been used too often in the past by political leaders running Sheffield to muddy the waters 1 on climate emergency action. We have a massive head start and with more ambition could be one of the world-leading cities whose actions inspire others to follow.

Opportunities were missed, like fitting thousands of council homes with solar panels at no cost when the Feed In Tariff [programme] made this more financially viable. [...]

The Grey to Green project in Castlegate 2 has shown what’s possible. Cities of the future need to be clean, attractive places to visit for leisure. We should be creating safe, traffic-free, walking and cycling environments in city centres with electric buses and taxis accessible within walking distance.

We can’t rely on current world or UK political leaders to take the urgent action needed to address the climate emergency. It’s down to us to act in our communities while collectively pushing all councillors of all parties to embrace the clean and healthy future we need.

“Letter to the press”, Sheffieldgreenparty.org.uk, 9 November 2021

1 make a situation more confusing

2 area in Sheffield city centre

Document D

Sheffield’s Grey to Green Scheme

Nigeldunnett.com

[Nigel Dunnett, Professor of Planting Design and Vegetation Technology, University of Sheffield]

Partie 2 (4 pts)

Traduisez en français le passage suivant du document A (l. 1-9):

It is a city that was once described by George Orwell as the “ugliest town in the old world”.

In Sheffield, he wrote in 1936, “in whichever direction you look you see the same landscape of monstrous chimneys pouring forth smoke”.

But today, things are somewhat different: the South Yorkshire city has just been named the greenest in the UK.

Researchers from the University of Southampton ranked the country’s biggest 25 urban centres for their sustainability – and this one-time industrial powerhouse came out top.