Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne unveiled detailed plans on Monday (May 22) for France to meet the EU target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% below 1990 levels by 2030.
France’s goal so far has been to reduce emissions by 40% by 2030, a target that is no longer in line with the EU’s revised climate target.
The French government said that to meet the EU target of 55%, France would therefore have to reduce emissions by 408 million tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to 270 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
To achieve this goal, Bourne submitted targets for key sectors of the economy to the National Council for Environmental Transition, the body that gives its opinion before Parliament votes on energy and environmental legislation.
Replacing electric cars with alternative combustion engines will reduce most of the transportation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions – 11 million tons less than the 37 million tons expected by 2030 – the Born Plan states.
In 2022, according to Citepa data, France’s largest emitter was the transport sector (129 million tons of CO2-eq), ahead of agriculture (81 million tons of CO2-eq) and industry (72 million tons of CO2-eq carbon), construction (64 tCO2e), and energy (47 tCO2e).
The “large industrial sites” sector will have to make a maximum effort to decarbonize and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 24 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030.
In the construction sector, renovating residential buildings and reducing the use of fuel oil and gas are the three pillars of reducing emissions from this sector.
“In total, half of the efforts (to reduce greenhouse gases) will be made by companies, especially large companies, a quarter by state and local authorities, and the last quarter by households,” Born said during the CNTE consultation.
All these measures would make it possible to guarantee a halving of emissions compared to 1990 data. The remaining 5% to reach the EU target will be filled by carbon sinks.
But “there is still uncertainty about how carbon sinks will be absorbed,” the capacity of which has roughly halved since 1990, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, which cannot currently provide figures for absorption by carbon sinks by 2030.
The office added that there is also uncertainty about how the transition period will be funded.
Meeting emissions reduction targets will come at a cost of about 66 billion euros a year until 2030, according to a report published on Monday by France Strategy, an organization affiliated with the prime minister.
Other legislative and regulatory texts will be submitted before the end of 2023 to complete the first milestones set by Born on Monday.
(Paul Massad | EURACTIV.com)
