France: Climate law adopted by Parliament
The Climate Bill was definitively adopted on Tuesday.
AP - Gonzalo Fuentes
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The French Parliament definitively adopted on Tuesday July 20 the emblematic Climate Bill.
Inspired by the work of the Citizen's Climate Convention, the text is touted as an “
ecological turning point
” by the government, while ecologists and environmental defense associations regret its lack of ambition in the face of the climate emergency.
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The National Assembly broadly supported the text by 233 votes to 35, after a vote by show of hands in the Senate.
This law is inspired by the work of the 150 members of the Citizen's Climate Convention.
For Barbara Pompili, Minister of Ecological Transition, who carries this text, this law represents both a “
global cultural shift
” and an ecology of “
common sense
”.
One of the main objectives of this bill is to enable France to aim for less than 40% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 ... To try to achieve this result, the text takes up several of the 146 proposals of the Citizen's Climate Convention, adapts some and has forgotten others.
Regarding transport for example, the law provides for prohibiting air links between two cities when an alternative in less than 2h30 by train exists.
The Climate Convention, on the other hand, demanded that flights be banned when an alternative in less than 4h30 by train is possible.
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Another example, concerning the artificialization of soils, the text provides for prohibiting the creation of new shopping centers in natural areas with an exemption below 10,000 M².
However, 90% of commercial zone projects are below this threshold!
Finally, the section which provided for the inclusion of the Climate Law in the Constitution by referendum was abandoned for lack of agreement between the two chambers.
Members of the Citizens' Convention and environmental NGOs point out to them the “
unraveling
” of their proposals.
On the other hand, the High Council for the Climate, an independent body, and the Council of State, the highest French administrative court, express serious doubts about the capacity of the State to respect its commitments of the agreement of Paris of 2015. The Council of State gave him nine months to take "
all the necessary measures
" and the State is threatened with a fine of 10 million euros per semester if it does not do more in the fight against air pollution, recalls Agence France Presse.
Especially since the French trajectory should be even more demanding, with the new climate package unveiled by the European Union.
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