Climate: Emmanuel Macron wants to “double effort rate” for reducing CO2 emissions

“If we do not change things, we will not be able to” achieve the objectives in 2030 in terms of ecological transition, warned the head of state in a video published on Saturday.

MO12345lemonde with AFP

Two days after having gathered an ecological planning council at the Élysée, the President of the Republic stressed, Saturday January 28, that France will have to “double the effort rate” in favor of the reduction of emissions carbon to achieve its objectives in 2030. “Today, we are not there. And if we do not change things, we will not get there,” explains the head of state in a video published on social networks, and evoking several sectoral measures.

Our CO2 emissions drop. But not fast enough. To succeed, we must double our efforts. It will be difficult… https://t.co/euo8vkqeal

– emmanuelmacron (@emmanuel macron)

“If we want to reach our 2030 target, we have to go to 270 million tonnes of co 2 emitted”, recalls Emmanuel Macron, “which means that it takes between now and 2030 Lower 140 million tonnes (…) which means that we must simply double the effort rate compared to what we have done in the past five years “.

“In the past five years, we have been twice as fast as before,” argued the president, criticized throughout his first mandate for his action deemed insufficient against the climate crisis. He cites past emissions, since from 2017, from 434 to 410 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The president then recalls in his message the sites opened by large sector, transport – first source of emission with 30 % – to waste (3 %) via agriculture (19 %), industry (19 %) , the building (18 %) and the energy (10 %).

“Mobilize good funding”

Concerning transport, “the most effective thing” according to him is to continue electrifying the Parc des vehicles. He judges that his strategy is the right one, with the conversion bonus and the ecological bonus. Emmanuel Macron says he has asked the government to now intensify efforts to “produce (electric) vehicles on our soil in full”. The Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, is also responsible for announcing measures on public transport infrastructure in February.

For agriculture, “we have to go much further, much stronger to reduce our emissions,” he urges, saying that he had asked for a plan to be finalized in June. This will have to be articulated with a future law in favor of the installation of young farmers.

“I do not hide you that there is a lot, a lot, a lot, of work. It is not a discovery, but there now we are going into the hard, we must mobilize the good funding. It will be necessary to Public money but it also needs private money. “

Emmanuel Macron organized a National Planning Council at the Elysée on Thursday, focused on climatic issues. Surrounded by her Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and a dozen ministers, including Christophe Béchu (ecological transition), Agnès Pannier-Runacher (energy transition), Bruno Le Maire (Economy) or Gabriel Attal (public accounts), the President of the Republic wanted to appear as the conductor of the fight against climate change.

This closed camera was initial to verify that all sectors – energy, transport, housing, agriculture, industries – were committed to a 50 % reduction in (raw) emissions of gases greenhouse by 2030, which will have to be listed in the next energy-climate law, in agreement with the European objective. This advice also had a political significance for Mr. Macron who was to speak of it himself in the above-mentioned and already recorded video.

Since the beginning of the year, the President of the Republic has created update on this crucial issue. During his wishes to the French on December 31, a small sentence – “who could have predicts (…) the climate crisis with spectacular effects?” – led many reactions to an increasingly alert scientific community.

/Media reports cited above.