A cyclist loads his bicycle on Rivoli street in Paris, in a May 2020 image.GONZALO FUENTES / Reuters
France is not doing enough to fight climate change and, at the current rate, it will not be able to reduce greenhouse gases by 40% in 2030 to comply with the Paris Agreement against climate change.
The conclusion of the Council of State is exhaustive and its decision unappealable: the Government of Emmanuel Macron has to do more and faster in the face of the climate crisis.
The highest administrative court in France has given him a nine-month deadline this Thursday.
Until March 31, 2022, the State must take “supplementary” and “useful” measures that guarantee the goals set both internally and internationally.
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“The prime minister is ordered to adopt all the useful measures that allow modifying the curve of greenhouse gas emissions produced in the territory, to guarantee its compatibility with the objectives of reducing greenhouse gases (…) before 31 March 2022 ”, reads the ruling of the Council of State, of which the prime minister, Jean Castex, has said“ take note ”.
In the event of non-compliance, the magistrates could impose a coercive fine on the Government, although the main punishment is itself a decision that calls into question the Executive's environmental policies and that, due to the deadlines imposed - at the end of March, France will be in the stretch end of the presidential campaign - threatens to turn this issue into one of the great debates of the electoral battle.
In any case, with its ruling, the high administrative judicial authority agrees with the community of Grande-Synthe, in the north of the country. In January 2019, the then mayor of this town very exposed to the risk of flooding due to climate change presented to the Council of State an appeal for the “climate inaction” of France, in the face of the opposition of the Government of Emmanuel Macron to access his request that additional measures be adopted to "modify the curve of the emissions produced and respect, as a minimum, the commitments of France". The initiative of today's MEP Damien Carême, who has celebrated on his social networks the "victory" represented by the decision of the Council of State, was joined by the cities of Paris and Grenoble, as well as four social organizations: Oxfam France, Greenpeace France ,the NGO Notre Affaire à Tous and the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, which was Macron's Minister of Ecology until August 2018.
The city of Paris, led by the socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, who is evaluating running as a presidential candidate in 2022, as has already been done by her colleague from Grenoble, the ecologist Éric Piolle, has celebrated this "great victory for all French people" historic decision ”that obliges the State to“ face its responsibilities ”. The NGOs have also described the decision as a "loud and clear ultimatum" that constitutes an "important stage" to reverse the "climate inaction" of the States. Paris has recalled in this sense that France is not the only country in which justice studies the commitments of governments: also in Germany, the Netherlands and Australia the judges have demanded that their States "be more ambitious and effective in their reduction objectives of greenhouse gas emissions ”,the Mayor's Office said in a statement.
The plaintiffs have further stressed that this is not the only climate setback for the French Government. On Tuesday, the High Council for Climate (HCC), an independent assessment body created by Macron at the end of 2018, also concluded that "current efforts are insufficient to ensure that the targets are met."
France reduced its emissions 1.9% in 2019 and 9.2% in 2020, according to estimates, but this exceptional drop is due to the economic slowdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic, both the HCC and the State Council agree, which also warns that, in any case, the projected path, which includes a 12% drop in emissions between 2024-2028, "does not seem achievable if new measures are not quickly adopted." For its part, the HCC warns that the European Union is preparing to revise its climate goals upwards, which could require greater efforts by France to achieve them.
In a statement, Castex has assured that the Government “takes note” of the decision of the highest administrative court and that it reiterates its “determination to strengthen its climate action, further accelerating emission reductions and applying measures to protect the French from the already observable impacts of climate change ”. In addition, he has promised new measures. On the one hand, a “quick” publication of all the texts of the climate bill still under parliamentary discussion. In addition, Castex assures that there will be a “strong political commitment” to apply the new measures that are being discussed at the European level. Finally, it has ensured the "continuation of financial efforts" to support the French in the "ecological transition" with premiums for the acquisition of clean vehicles, among others.
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