France and greenhouse gas emissions

History and Political Context

Charlemagne (742–814) united the Frankish kingdoms and ushered in a mini-renaissance, encouraging education and the arts. After Charlemagne, France remained only nominally unified under titular kings who held little power compared to local princes such as William the Conqueror. France was eventually united under strong centralized leadership by Louis IX (1214–1270). For the next five hundred years, the country was periodically torn by internal religious conflict, as well as being threatened by foreign powers including England, Spain, and Germany. Nevertheless, France was a major contributor to the Age of Enlightenment of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

In the 1700’s, an egalitarian and humanistic movement culminated in the French Revolution (1789–1794), which became a dominating theme in French thought and government. In 1871, the last remnants of the monarchies disappeared, and the government became a republican parliamentary democracy. The government survived many parliamentary crises from 1871 to 1958—a period that encompassed two world wars. In 1958, Charles de Gaulle assumed power under a new constitution that included a strong presidency. This structure stabilized the government and allowed France to concentrate on its goals of fostering a strong and united Europe, as well as encouraging innovation in the arts and sciences. In 1992, France signed the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union. Since that time, France has worked to balance its own national interests with increased involvement in agencies and projects intended to unify and centralize Eastern and Western Europe.

Impact of French Policies on Climate Change

French environmental ideology has two fundamental roots: a devotion to intellectual innovation and a profound appreciation for the natural world. France has been the initiator or advocate of the creation of European environmental agencies beginning in 1948 with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. France was a driving force behind the Kyoto Protocol, galvanizing the 1997 conference and increasing the number of signatory nations. France has signed over 130 European and worldwide agreements focused on the environment.

In February, 2005, France ratified the Charter for the Environment and added it to the preamble of the French constitution, thus assigning environmental rights and responsibilities an importance equal to that of civil liberties and economic and social rights. The charter’s ten articles include assertions that declare individuals must participate in conservation, that promote sustainable development, and that ensure the public is educated about environmental concerns. Article 5 supports the controversial precautionary principle, which states that action may be taken regarding an environmental issue even if there is disagreement in the scientific community over the severity of the problem or the best way to address it.

In addition to the charter, in 2004 France instituted a climate plan more aggressive than the Kyoto Protocol, with the goal of reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 54 million metric tons by 2010. This plan includes procedures to effect change at every level of French society, from large corporations to individual citizens. For both industry and consumers, those who choose lower emission technologies receive rebates, bonuses, or price reductions. Those who do not choose such technologies must pay additional fees or taxes or face punitive legal action. Examples include a measure to mitigate property taxes for energy-efficient buildings and an initiative to increase the use of biofuels. The French climate plan also includes funding for public education.

In 2016, France joined 181 other nations in signing the Paris Agreement, which served to combat climate change and intensified efforts to keep greenhouse gas emissions low.

France as a GHG Emitter

According to data reported to the Climate Change Secretariat of the United Nations, the total amount of CO₂ emitted by France in 1990—the benchmark year to which levels were to be reduced—was 398.8 billion metric tons. Ten years later, the amount was 415.1 billion metric tons, an increase of 4.1 percent. In 2015, the amount was 368.8 billion metric tons, a decrease from 1990 of 7.5 percent. However, all other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including those of methane and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), decreased 15.7 percent from 1990 to 2015.

Even with this decrease, France missed its Kyoto Protocol target of an 8 percent decrease by 2012 from 1990 levels. The French reliance on nuclear power—the last coal mine in France was closed in 2004—has contributed to lowering the rate of increase of CO₂ emissions. While France has gradually decreased GHG emissions from 1990, it has not yet reached the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. One of the more difficult sectors to control is transportation, which is responsible for about 26 percent of the increase in France’s CO₂ emissions. The second-largest contributor to the increase is home heating, at 12 percent. In 2016, it was announced that France had plans to cut emissions by 75 percent by 2050.

Summary and Foresight

The French desire to show leadership in environmental concerns seems to clash with the nation’s ambition to also be a technologically advanced society. This has led France to attempt to integrate policies that are pro-environment with those that encourage technological competition and innovation. The French people favor measures such as green belts within industrial areas and the high-speed train à grande vitesse (TGV), a train that provides low-emission, energy-efficient transportation. The French citizenry seems willing to tolerate taxes and fees on ecologically unfriendly consumer goods, although occasionally there is strong opposition, as there was to a so-called picnic tax, a tax on disposable items such as plates and tableware. The government provides incentives as well as fees, including a rebate of as much as $7,000 on cars that are particularly fuel efficient.

Although it appears that France is making great strides in improving air quality, some issues remain troubling. GHG emissions increased late in the first decade of the twenty-first century, in spite of controls and fines, and a worldwide recession generated pressure on the government to repeal or mitigate some previously established limits on GHG emissions. France was particularly concerned that some countries that were under extreme economic pressures or burdened with Soviet-era industries and power plants might rebel against EU agreements on limiting emissions. In an attempt to keep international accords from disintegrating, France has softened its stance on upholding those limits, and in 2008, it used its occupancy of the presidency of the European Union to mediate among EU member nations when conflicts arose over emissions standards and related issues. In the late 2010s, France continued to struggle to meet its goals regarding GHG emissions.

Key Facts

• Population: Metropolitan France: 62,814,233 ; total population, including overseas departments: 67,106,161 (July, 2017)
• Area: Metropolitan France: 551,500 square kilometers; total area, including overseas departments: 643,801 square kilometers
• Gross domestic product (GDP): $2.836 trillion (purchasing power parity, 2017 estimate)
• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e): 566.4 in 1990; 559.9 in 2000; 546.5 in 2006
• Kyoto Protocol status: Ratified, May 31, 2002

Bibliography

Bess, Michael. The Light-Green Society: Ecology and Technological Modernity in France. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. This award-winning book explores the conflict and eventual mediation between French beliefs in the sanctity of nature and what Bess calls “technological Darwinism”—a determination that France will not be left behind as technology advances.

International Energy Agency. Energy Security and Climate Policy: Assessing Interactions. Paris: Author, 2007. Close study of the relationship between the pursuit of national energy security and attempts to mitigate global warming in five example nations, one of which is France.

Prendiville, Brendan. Environmental Politics in France. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994. Thorough examination of the influence of the “Green Movement” on French politics for the watershed years of 1970 through 1996.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 3rd Biennial Report of France, Ministère de la Transition Écologique et Solidaire, Dec. 2017, unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/6018539‗France-BR3-4-BR%20-%20FRANCE%20-%20EN%20-%20VF15022018.pdf. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.