France

France joined the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) in 2012 and since then has demonstrated continuous commitment to slashing short-lived climate pollutants alongside carbon emissions to flatten the curve of climate change and build a healthier planet.

“Today, we know that by fighting climate change we also improve air quality and the benefit is twofold. That is why we want to mobilize all the tools, all the stakeholders, to greatly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants together,” said Brune Poirson, the former Secretary of State to the Minister for an Ecological and Inclusive Transition in 2019. “The Climate and Clean Air Coalition is a great example of what we can do together. It allows us to create synergies between countries and between non-state actors to develop concrete solutions, locally or globally, and ultimately accelerate our transition to a low carbon and clean economy.”

During its G7 Presidency in 2019, France highlighted the need to transition the cooling sector because of its rapidly increasing climate impact due to the increasing use of refrigerants including Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). By 2050, the number of air conditioners will increase by 5.6 billion, which means that 10 new units will be sold every second. During the G7 Environment Ministers’ Meeting, France launched the CCAC’s Efficient Cooling Initiative in partnership with Japan, United Nations Environment Programme, Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, and other countries and partners to catalyse action on the cooling sector. At the G7 Summit, France also launched the Biarritz Pledge, a landmark agreement to undertake ambitious measures to improve energy efficiency in the cooling sector while phasing down HFC refrigerants in line with the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

On September 3, 2020, the French Government released “France Relance,” its €100 billion recovery plan to address the economic consequences of COVID-19. The first pillar is a €30 billion green transition which will include investments for energy-efficient renovation programmes for private and social housing and public buildings, for sustainable mobility, for decarbonisation of the industry, and for green technologies including hydrogen, biofuels, and recycling.

Paris is a member of the CCAC-led BreatheLife Campaign, a global clean air initiative working to combat the climate and health effects of air pollution—among them an estimated 7 million premature deaths. The mayor of Paris plans to reduce the number of cars in the city by half, ban diesel vehicles by 2024, and make the capital a more walkable city – whilst also showing city leadership in the fight against climate change. France’s air quality policies are in line with European Union directives. The government also charges taxes for owning a vehicle, with companies paying significantly more than individuals. France also provides one of the highest bonuses in Europe for purchasing a new zero-emission vehicle and an incentive for replacing polluting vehicles. These incentives were enhanced with the support plan to the automotive sector and the French recovery plan.

Major cities including Paris and its suburbs, Lyon, and Grenoble have already implemented low emission zones. In addition to that, the new French mobility orientation law requires low emission zones where air pollution limits are regularly exceeded which will soon lead to similar actions in other cities.

France has made climate finance a priority, with President Emmanuel Macron announcing in 2019 that the country would double its contribution to the Green Climate Fund, stating that "Protecting those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change is everyone’s responsibility.” In 2018, France provided €5 billion in climate finance to developing countries, mostly through the French Development Agency AFD, and has committed to providing a similar amount each year until 2020.

In 2019, France passed the Law on Energy and Climate to introduce the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050 as part of its commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement. The National low carbon strategy was updated in 2020 to reflect the objective of carbon neutrality, which requires 2050 emissions to be reduced to 1/6th of 1990 levels. This objective is more ambitious in comparison to the first National low carbon strategy, which aimed at a 75% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. The strategy also aims to achieve the national objective of a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Recognizing that short-lived climate pollutants are a critical part of this work, the country also committed to ceasing all coal power plant operations by 2022.

Counteracting food waste and loss is also a national priority. In 2020, the Anti-waste law for a circular economy committed the country to halving food waste by 2025 for the retail and catering sectors and by 2030 for the other sectors through a mix of public and private commitments. In this area of combatting short-lived climate pollutants, France is committed to multi-sectoral action with the recognition that no country, branch of government, or area of the economy can act in isolation to successfully achieve climate benefits.

France supports CCAC projects in developing countries as a donor to the CCAC Trust Fund. Details about France's contributions and pledges can be found here. Read below for more highlights of France’s work.  

Other activities

Agriculture

• In 2018, France developed the Methane Energy and Nitrogen Autonomy Plan, an agricultural approach that aims to cut emissions by reducing the overall use of inputs and increase the use of organic fertilizers. The country is also committed to action on manure management, aiming to have 1,000 biogas plants by 2020 (up from just 90 in 2012 and 400 in late 2017).
• France offers further financial incentives, including grants and technical aids offered by ADEME, the environmental and sustainable development agency, for biogas development. Biogas and biomethane mixed with natural gas are also exempted from domestic consumption tax.
• In 2016, feed-in-tariffs became feed-in-premiums, granting a premium tariff to renewable electricity producers of larger biogas plants (that’s on top of the sale price they get on the electricity market). This action made biogas more competitive on the electricity market, complementing the European Union Emission Trading System (ETS).
• In 2017, the government set up tariff rebate of up to 40 percent on the costs of connecting biomethane facilities with distribution networks.
• In 2017, the Plant Protein Plan, a French consortium of enterprises committed to lowering France’s protein dependency, started work to speed up the development of the alternative and plant-based protein sector while increasing the health and nutrition of livestock to make the sector more efficient.
• The ‘MONDFERENT’ (‘Methane emissions for cattle in France’ at the national agronomic research institution, INRA) project has refined emissions calculations for enteric fermentations and the management of cattle manure for the national inventory.
• In 2015, the National Low-Carbon Strategy sets out agricultural emissions reduction targets of 12 percent by 2030.
• From 2011 to 2016, feed-in-tariffs for electricity produced from biogas were available for power plants using vegetable and animal agricultural waste.

Waste

• In 2020, the Anti-waste law for a circular economy introduced reinforced penalties in case of intentional destruction of unsold but still edible food, mandatory procedures to monitor and control the quality of the food donation, and national "anti-food waste" label that can be granted to any legal entity contributing to the national objectives.
• In 2020, a multiyear energy programme was adopted which includes a 10-year energy plan mandating that biogas account for 7 to 10 percent of gas consumption by 2030. France also plans to provide €7 to 9 billion of subsidies to encourage renewable gas production. Progress is already underway, with the amount of biogas injected into GRTgaz pipelines, (the company that builds and maintains the main natural gas transmission network) rising by 75 percent last year with 661 new projects already planned.
• In 2019, the National Programme on Food and Nutrition was launched, in particular to continue the fight against food waste and ensure sustainable and healthy diets. The government also supported investments to improve the environmental performance of the agrifood industries and encourage energy efficiency certificates.
• In 2018, France passed the Agriculture Bill which expands the requirement for supermarkets to donate unused food to encompass institutional catering. It also requires restaurants provide to-go boxes for uneaten food and requires that food waste is reported and that a waste reduction plan for the catering sector is established.
• In 2016, France became the first country in the world to prohibit supermarkets from throwing away unused food, earning the top ranking in the 2017 Food Sustainability Index.
• Since 2016, companies and administrative bodies are obligated to sort their waste. By 2025, the country aims to have universal sorting of household organic waste.
• In 2012, the Waste Management Enforcement Law reduced the amount of organic waste sent to landfills by requiring many private sector companies to recycle it. Since then, in 2020, with the anti-waste law for a circular economy, France has significantly tightened that requirement, encompassing all companies that produce anything over 10 tons annually.

Efficient cooling

• In 2020, the recovery plan “France Relance”, included €6.7 billion for building renovation, primarily through insulation, including measures to adapt to summer temperatures and heat waves.
• In 2019, the Law on Energy and Climate included several measures against thermally inefficient homes including that, starting in 2022, owners will be required to do an energy audit before renting or selling to inform renters and sellers of the expected energy costs. By 2021, owners won’t be able to raise rent until they’ve done energy efficient renovations. By 2023, homes with extremely high energy costs could even be banned from renting.
• The 2019 Finance Bill (adopted in 2018) has introduced tax credits and incentives for companies to install HFC-free refrigeration and air conditioning equipment.
• In 2015, the Act on Energy Transition for Green Growth puts in place measures to reduce the energy consumption of buildings and homes, including tax credits and interest-free loans for individuals and companies. It also requires energy efficient upgrades when renovating.

 Transportation
  

• In 2020, the recovery plan plan “France Relance” included several provisions on green infrastructures and mobility including cycling and public transit, railway infrastructure, greening of the state’s fleet, and incentives for clean vehicles.
• The Finance Bill 2020, adopted at the end of 2019, includes an almost twofold increase of the maximum penalty for new high-emitting vehicles, from €10,500 in 2019 to €20,000 in 2020. 
• The 2019 Orientation  Law on Mobilities sets a target of ending the sale of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles using fossil fuels by 2040.
• In 2019, €264 million was allocated to the ecological bonus budget to support the purchase of almost 42,800 electric passenger cars and almost 8,000 electric light commercial vehicles. In 2020, the government will provide another €395 million to purchase about 100,000 electric vehicles.
• In 2017, France participated in the 74th meeting of the International Marine Organizations’ (IMO) Maritime Environment Protection Committee and, among other maritime environmental commitments, the country pledged to reduce black carbon emissions in ship’s exhaust smoke. Furthermore, France is implementing light fuels and particle filters on all its ships and plans to create a low-emission zone in the Mediterranean.
• The 2015 Law on Energy Transition for Green Growth authorized local authorities to establish restricted traffic zones where vehicles must display a special sticker indicating their emissions categorization during certain times. The act also created tax incentives and rebates for individuals, local authorities, and vehicle hire companies to purchase clean vehicles. By 2025, 100 percent of vehicles will be low emissions.