Small nuclear reactors in series, green aircraft, robotic agriculture, predictive medicine ... If "the French imagination", one of the themes of the France 2030 recovery plan, is supposedly struggling, that of Emmanuel Macron running at full speed to sketch the future of the country.

The Head of State declined on Tuesday a dozen medium-term objectives that would radically change the face of industry, agriculture or French medicine.

But are these measures up to the climate challenge?

"We remain in a productivist logic that does not respond to the issue of sobriety" to save the planet, denounces Nicolas Nace, energy transition campaign manager at Greenpeace.

Emmanuel Macron “starts from the principle that we will have to produce more and more and consume more energy and resources”, also underlines Samuel Léré, of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation.

For him, the vision of the Head of State is "a completely technological mirage, as if a magical technology was going to make the ecological transition without needing to question our consumption and our lifestyles".

The renovation of housing, largely forgotten

Without sticking to an anti-nuclear position, the two organizations regret the absence of announcements on the renovation of housing, "which concentrate 40% of our energy consumption", calculates Samuel Léré. The billion euros put on SMR reactors - "a technology that we do not master in France," recalls Nicolas Nace - thus seems to be against-use: instead of seeking to consume less, Emmanuel Macron wants to produce more. Greenpeace is also calling for a “Marshall plan for housing, to get 12 million people out of fuel poverty”. "It would be both a job creator and an ecological, health and social measure", defends Nicolas Nace.

But no, the Head of State prefers to seek "solutions that do not exist, or will perhaps see the light of day in 2035" (and not before in any case for the green plane or hydrogen), according to the researchers.

Other subjects, however essential in a logic of sustainable development, are absent from Emmanuel Macron's speech: “Where is the funding for the renovation of buildings and the railways?

However, these are the pillars of the ecological transition which represent real industrial and employment challenges… ”, the Climate Action Network wondered on Twitter on Tuesday.

Biodiversity in danger

Some of its proposals are even harmful to the environment, according to the two environmentalists. “It will put two billion, or double the investment in nuclear power, for genetics, robotics and digital in agriculture. It is the opposite of what should be done, ”warns Samuel Léré. Rather, the Nicolas Hulot Foundation defends a “revolution in agroecology”, based on the diversification of species and crop rotation. There again, for the NGO, the solutions of the Head of State have all of the dystopian fiction, where the bees in danger of extinction would be replaced by "drones which come to put pesticides on the plant".

By moving away from arable land, the panorama is no more selling.

Half a word, the Head of State raised the possibility of exploiting the seabed, after exploration of course.

Objective: find rare metals for semiconductors.

"This could have disastrous consequences for biodiversity and the balance of the oceans," predicts Nicolas Nace, who also regrets that the president "only speaks of wood to exploit it".

"Reindustrialisation is a good thing"

All these measures would therefore be totally contrary to the ecological transition? No, admit the two environmentalists. "It's good news to want to create industrial jobs in France," says Samuel Léré. While the sector only represents 11% of jobs in France, "this would allow better control of emissions", explains Nicolas Nace. In other words, it is better to have a carbon-free industry in France than a polluting industry in China.

But again, Emmanuel Macron disappoints.

Produce two million electric cars per year on the territory, but if it is to produce SUVs ... "This is also incompatible with the sobriety necessary" to achieve carbon neutrality, points out Samuel Léré.

In the automotive industry, he rather regrets "that we put 0 euros on retro-fit, a re-use technology which reduces CO2 emissions and which is almost ready".

This is good, but probably not enough "disruptive" for the France of the future of Emmanuel Macron.

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