France’s Macron, champion of the climate agreement in Paris abroad, falls short at home

In France, however, Macron discovers how difficult the agreement is to implement without making painful changes to the way people live in developed economies. France lags behind the rest of Europe in reducing emissions, and Mr. Macron has not decided on a strategy to fulfill the country’s promises under the Paris Agreement.

Mr. Macron has convened a meeting of everyday citizens to devise a comprehensive plan to put France on track to become carbon neutral by 2050. in opposition to mr. Macron himself.

“We need to make adjustments,” said a presidential assistant, adding that some of the proposals were unacceptable to the public. Mr. Macron recently told the youth-focused news website Brut that the government should study the economic impact of the proposals, adding that it does not belong to the assembly to ‘expect everything, think of everything’.

In recent years, the Macron government has taken a broken approach that includes a national ban on hydraulic fracturing, and subsidies to encourage people to buy electric or hybrid vehicles.

Emissions of greenhouse gases in France fell by just 1% a year between 2015 and 2018, compared to the 3% annual decline that the government targeted during that period, according to the High Council on Climate, an independent watchdog led by Mr. . Macron is set. In 2019, emissions decreased by 0.9% while they decreased by 3.7% in Europe. This year’s emissions are expected to decline significantly, but only due to two pandemic closures, the High Council said.

The shortcomings point to one of the fundamental weaknesses of the Paris Agreement: it has a enforcement mechanism. The agreement seeks to limit the rise in world temperature to less than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, with a target of no more than 1.5 degrees. But it is up to individual countries to set their own national targets to help the world achieve them.

President Biden on Wednesday suspended new oil and gas leases on federal land and instructed the Department of the Interior to take steps to double foreign production by 2030 and employ Americans for climate-focused public works.

According to research firm Rhodium Group, the US has reduced its emissions, although it is not fast enough to reach its target of 26% to 28% by 2025 and 80% by 2050. China has said it will not start reducing emissions until 2030. He promised to become carbon neutral by 2060.

France initially promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030, but French officials expect to increase the target to reach the European Union to reduce emissions by 55% over the period. The UK has promised to reduce emissions by 68% by 2030.

Macron says he has done more than any other previous government in France to fight climate change. “I do not take lessons from anyone,” he said. Macron told Brut.

Part of France’s challenge is that it has a lower carbon footprint than the US and most other major EU economies. In 2019, France emitted an average of 5 tons of CO2 per person, compared to 16 tons for U.S. citizens, according to the Global Carbon Atlas.

This makes further reduction an inherently more difficult task. Many of the signatories of Paris, including Germany, have more room to reduce lower emissions because they can focus on closing down coal plants that produce higher emissions. France does not have that luxury because its electricity is largely produced by nuclear power stations that generate less carbon.

Deeper decline, according to French officials, is likely to approach the muscle of the French economy. The Macron government’s plan to increase France’s carbon tax on fuel – an action aimed at reducing emissions and financing the transition to cleaner technology – set the yellow vest protest movement on fire in November 2018. violated the government buildings and monuments, which Mr. Macron was forced to abandon the tax increase. One French official said it would be difficult to achieve France’s agreement goal without raising carbon taxes again.

In early 2019, film director Cyril Dion and actress Marion Cotillard met Mr. Macron gathers at the Élysée Palace to persuade him to set up a meeting of 150 citizens to suggest ways to reduce emissions.

‘It’s not something that comes from above, but that is imposed. This is something that the French themselves decide, ‘said Mr. Dion remembers that at the time he told mr. Macron said.

At the founding of the meeting, Mr. Macron said his proposals would be implemented immediately, hold a public referendum or be submitted directly to parliament for a vote. Mr. Dion became one of the three sponsors of the meeting and had to ensure that the 150 citizens work together and that the government keeps its word.

The meeting met for months with climate experts, business leaders, economists and lawyers to measure the impact of each of their 149 proposals.

Mr. Macron rejected three proposals, including a 4% tax on dividends to fund new environmental policies, which he said would discourage investment. He accepts proposals to set up a moratorium on the construction of shopping centers on the outskirts of the city and to create an emissions rating system for goods and services.

Other measures were watered down, which angered many members of the rally. A proposed tax on sport utility vehicles, for example, only applies to vehicles weighing more than 1,800 kg, or 3,968 pounds, instead of the original 1,400 kg. And a proposal to ban domestic flights that can be covered by a train journey of less than four hours has been shortened to a train journey of two and a half hours.

“The ideas are still there, but not the ambition,” said 32-year-old social worker Grégoire Fraty, one of the 150 citizens.

In November, Mr. Dion launched a petition online to Mr. Ask Macron to keep his word and submit the proposals unfiltered to parliament. Mr. Macron “torpedoes the work of the meeting he set up by not allowing them to achieve the goals he set himself, it’s schizophrenic,” he said. Dion said.

“I have 150 citizens and I respect them, but I’m not going to say that because the 150 citizens wrote something, be it the Bible or the Koran,” he said. Macron told Brut.

Write to Noemie Bisserbe at [email protected]