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Climate bill: the Senate wants a greener text

2021-06-16T19:05:19.096Z


For two weeks, the senators will work on the Climate and Resilience bill inspired by the work of the Citizen's Convention


The senators engaged this Monday in a long-distance race.

At the Luxembourg Palace, they are working on the examination at first reading of the vast Climate bill, inspired by the work of the Citizen's Convention (CCC) wanted by Emmanuel Macron, but criticized for its lack of ambition and deemed "perfectible. By the right-wing opposition which dominates the upper house.

Constellation of rapporteurs, myriad of amendments (nearly 700 adopted in committee, more than 2,200 tabled in public session) after the deputies, the senators have work in perspective until the general vote on June 29.

Supported by the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili, the Climate and Resilience bill reflects part of the 146 proposals of the CCC that Emmanuel Macron had retained, the elimination of certain domestic airlines in the event of alternatives of less than 2h30 by train to the ban on the rental of thermal sieve housing in 2028. The ministry boasts "a real law of cultural evolution which brings ecology into the daily life of the French".

The text must be definitively validated at the end of 2021 and be supplemented by a constitutional section in order to include the climate in the Basic Law.

But Prime Minister Jean Castex accuses the upper house of having "lowered" this ambition.

The Senate responds by affirming that it wants to "raise the environmental ambitions" of the government on the Climate and Resilience bill, "which were not quite up to the task", according to the centrist president of Regional Planning Jean-François Longeot.

The account is not there for environmentalists

The text was supposed to enable France to achieve the objectives it set for itself in application of the Paris Agreement (reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990, neutrality carbon by 2050).

Targets revised upwards in April at European level (reduction of at least 55% in 2030).

But environmentalists like several bodies such as the High Council for the Climate (HCC) or the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese) believe that the account is not there.

The Senate should mark the occasion by adopting an amendment aimed at creating a preliminary article to the bill, according to which "France undertakes to respect the objectives" currently being revised at European level.

On the ministry side, we see above all in this transpartisan amendment “a symbol”.

📣Environmental senators present their #Vraieloiclimat, up to the urgency!



1️⃣Reduce our emissions by 55% by 2030


2️⃣Create thousands of sustainable jobs


3️⃣Contribute to social justice



Discover our proposals to drive a real #change ✊⤵️ pic.twitter.com/0Bj67BHqhW

- Senators environmentalists (@ecologistesenat) May 25, 2021

The senators drew in committee the main directions in which they intend to develop the text: "Reconcile ecological, economic and social transitions", "set a clear course to sustainably engage our economy in the low carbon transition", and still "do the link between the daily life of the French, (…) our economic model and our international and European climate commitments ”.

"Reaching out to citizens in their daily life"

Transport, housing, consumption… For the rapporteur Marta de Cidrac (LR), “it was important not to lose sight of the fact that this text mainly affects our fellow citizens in their daily lives”. The energy renovation component of housing has been enriched, with in particular the programmed disappearance of class D housing in 2048. Other notable measures adopted in committee: boost to bulk sales, reduction of the VAT rate to 5.5 % for train tickets, creation of a food and nutritional check… The regional ecotax for heavy goods vehicles has been put on hold.

At the forefront of this text, the environmental group welcomes "progress", but also deplores several "setbacks", in particular on the fight against the artificialization of soils.

The senators have completely revised it to favor "a territorialized approach" and to relax the deadlines.

"Contradictory signals"

In the entourage of the minister, it is judged that the senators "send contradictory signals" and it is warned that an agreement between deputies and senators in a joint committee cannot be done "to the detriment of the ecological ambition of the text" .

About sixty amendments have been tabled by the government, including twenty to defend "red lines", whether on the artificialization of soils or nitrogen fertilizers.

On the NGO side, Pierre Cannet of WWF France notes “good surprises” on advertising, but deplores the “unraveling” of measures such as vegetarian menus in the canteen.

For Greenpeace France, despite "some improved subjects", "the overwhelming majority of the text remains far from the ambition necessary to respond to the climate emergency".

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2021-06-16

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