Frenchman Macron, champion of the Paris Climate Agreement Abroad, falls short at home

In France, however, Mr Macron finds it difficult to implement the agreement without imposing painful changes in people’s way of life in developed economies. France lags behind the rest of Europe in reducing emissions and Mr Macron has not decided on a strategy to deliver on the country’s promises under the Paris agreement.

Macron created an assembly of everyday citizens to come up with a comprehensive plan to put France on a path to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. But the assembly’s plan, which goes from the curbs of domestic flights to the all-terrain vehicle sales taxes have already been run in opposition to Mr Macron himself.

“We need to make some adjustments,” said an upcoming presidential aide, who added that some of the proposals were unacceptable to the public. Macron recently said on the Brut youth-focused news website that the government needed to study the economic impact of the proposals, adding that it was not up to the assembly to “anticipate everything, think everything.”

In recent years, the Macron government has taken a partial approach that includes a national ban on fracking and subsidies to encourage people to buy electric or hybrid vehicles.

Greenhouse gas emissions in France fell by only 1% annually between 2015 and 2018, compared to the 3% annual decline pointed out by the government during this period, according to the Higher Climate Council, a independent monitoring body set up by Mr Macron. In 2019, emissions fell by 0.9% while they fell by 3.7% across Europe. This year emissions are expected to decrease substantially, but only due to two pandemic blockades, the Superior Council said.

The shortcomings point to one of the fundamental weaknesses of the Paris agreement: it lacks an implementation mechanism. The agreement aims to limit global temperature rise to less than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, with a target of no more than 1.5 degrees. But it is up to each country to set its own national goals to help the world achieve that goal.

President Biden on Wednesday suspended new oil and gas leases on federal land and led the Department of the Interior to identify measures to double offshore wind production by 2030 and hire Americans on construction projects climate-focused public services.

The United States has reduced its emissions, although they are not fast enough to reach the reduction target of 26% to 28% by 2025 and 80% by 2050, according to energy and economics research firm Rhodium Group. China has said it will not start reducing emissions until 2030. It has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2060.

France was initially committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030, but French officials hope to raise this target to meet the European Union’s target of reducing emissions by 55% during this period. time. The UK is committed to reducing emissions by 68% by 2030.

Macron says he has done more than any previous government in France to fight climate change. “I don’t take lessons from anyone,” Macron told Brutus.

Part of France’s challenge is that it has a lower carbon footprint than the United States and most other major EU economies. In 2019, France emitted an average of 5 metric tons of CO2 per person, compared to 16 metric tons for U.S. citizens, according to the World Carbon Atlas.

This makes additional reductions an intrinsically harder task. Many of the signatories to the Paris agreement, including Germany, have more room to reduce emissions, as they can focus on shutting down coal-fired plants that produce higher emissions. France does not have this luxury, because its electricity is largely produced by nuclear power plants, which generate less carbon.

The deepest cuts, French officials say, are likely to come close to the muscle of the French economy. The Macron government’s plan to increase France’s fuel tax – a move to curb emissions and help fund the transition to cleaner technologies – ignited the yellow vest protest movement in November of 2018. Drivers dressed in reflective safety vests obstructed roads, shops destroyed government buildings and monuments, forcing Macron to abandon the tax hike. A French official said it would be difficult to achieve the goal of the Paris-France agreement without raising the carbon tax again.

In early 2019, film director Cyril Dion and actress Marion Cotillard met with Mr. Macron at the Elysee Palace, persuading him to set up an assembly of 150 citizens to propose ways to reduce emissions.

“It’s not something that comes from above, but it is imposed. It’s something the French decide for themselves, ”Dion reminded Mr Macron at the time.

In establishing the assembly, Mr Macron said his proposals would be implemented immediately, submitted to a public referendum or presented directly to Parliament for a vote. Dion became one of the three guarantors of the assembly, in charge of making sure that the 150 citizens worked together and that the government kept its word.

For months, the assembly met with climate experts, business leaders, economists and lawyers, measuring the impact of each of its 149 proposals.

Macron rejected three proposals, including a 4% tax on dividends to help fund new environmental policies, which he said would discourage investment. He accepted proposals to impose a moratorium on the construction of commercial districts on the outskirts of the city and to create a system for classifying emissions of goods and services.

Other measures were watered down, which infuriated many members of the convention. A proposed tax on SUVs, for example, would only apply to vehicles over 1,800kg, or £ 3,968, instead of the original 1,400kg. And a proposal to ban domestic flights that could be covered by a train journey of less than four hours was abbreviated to a two-and-a-half-hour train journey.

“Ideas are still there, but not ambition,” said 32-year-old social worker Grégoire Fraty, one of 150 citizens.

In November, Mr Dion launched an online petition calling on Mr Macron to keep his word and submit the unfiltered proposals to Parliament. Mr. Macron “torpedoes the work of the assembly he created because it doesn’t allow them to achieve the goals he himself had set, it’s schizophrenic,” Dion said.

“I have 150 citizens and I respect them, but I won’t say that because those 150 citizens wrote something, it’s the Bible or the Qur’an,” Macron told Brutus.

Write to Noemie Bisserbe to [email protected]