Before being appointed Prime Minister, Monday May 16, Elisabeth Borne was part of the parade of ministers of the ecological Transition during the last five-year term of Emmanuel Macron. Between Nicolas Hulot, François de Rugy and Barbara Pompili, she held the positions of Minister in charge of Transport, from May 2017 to July 2019, then she replaced François de Rugy at the head of the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition from July 2019 to July 2020, to then be relayed by Barbara Pompili.
Emmanuel Macron said it during the presidential campaign: she will now be in charge of ecological planning. But what did she accomplish between 2017 and 2020? “Great knowledge of issues and open to dialogue with stakeholders, she has however obtained few memorable advances in the field of the fight against climate change”, responds for its part the Climate Action Network in a press release. Franceinfo takes stock.
Growing budgets to pursue climate-friendly policies
During his two mandates in Transport and Ecological Transition, public aid for low-carbon mobility and overall spending “climate friendly” increased, following a general trend over the decade, notes a report by I4CE, the Institute for Climate Economics. The organization lists a series of expenses such as “the rapid increase in aid for the acquisition of clean vehicles since 2018” or rail support through the “repurchase of 20 billion euros of SNCF Réseau debt in 2020”.
An insufficient reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
However, these investments did not sufficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for climate change, in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Over the three years during which Elisabeth Borne played a role in environmental policy of the country, France’s CO2 emissions have not achieved the reduction targets set by the first National Low Carbon Strategy, the French roadmap for complying with the Paris Agreement.
No action to reduce air pollution
Already lectured in 2017, the government was again forced to take measures to reduce air pollution, under penalty of 10 million euros per half-year delay. Shortly after the end of Elisabeth Borne’s mandate at the Ministry of Ecological Transition in July 2020, the Council of State noted “that the government [n’avait] still not taken the measures requested to reduce air pollution in eight areas in France”had denounced the high court.
The end of two major controversial projects
During her months in charge of these issues, the Minister put an end to controversial projects. On November 7, 2019, it announced the abandonment of EuropaCity, a vast leisure, hotel and shopping complex which was to open in Gonesse (Val-d’Oise) and which has become the symbol of the urbanization of agricultural land. A few days before handing over to Barbara Pompili, Elisabeth Borne also announced the final shutdown of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant (Haut-Rhin). “With the shutdown of the two Fessenheim reactors, we are committed to reducing the share of nuclear power to 50% by 2035 while massively developing renewable energies. Why? Because a more diversified electricity system is a more resilient system “she had then defended before the National Assembly.
The culmination of three laws initiated before his arrival
During her tenure, Elisabeth Borne also completed three bills initiated before her arrival. First of all, there is the Energy-Climate law, adopted on November 8, 2019. The text set the objective of a 40% reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels by 2030 in France – against 30% previously –, the closure of the last coal-fired power stations in 2022, but also the postponement from 2025 to 2035 of the reduction to 50% of the share of nuclear power in electricity production. Nevertheless, “she was unable to imprint her mark on a text whose main objectives had already been announced by Nicolas Hulot in 2017”noted The world.
A few weeks later, it also carried the mobility orientation law until its publication in the Official Journal on December 26, 2019. “In France, it had been more than thirty years since we had had a law on transport and mobility issues”, greeted with franceinfo David Zambon, director in charge of infrastructures within the Center for studies and expertise on risks, the environment, mobility and development (Cerema). Clément Sénéchal, spokesperson for Greenpeace, moderates the scope of the law, with franceinfo: “It did not include structural measures to bring this sector back into the nails of the Paris agreements. Proof of this is that it still derogates from the objectives.”
Finally, she was in office during the promulgation, on February 10, 2020, of the law relating to the fight against waste and the circular economy. But this “rather ambitious law, which encourages the repair of products, prohibits the destruction of unsold non-food items, fights against illegal dumping in nature or reinforces the application of the polluter-pays principle” has been more “prepared and supported by its Secretary of State Brune Poirson”analysis Release.
A plan for cycling
At the end of April 2020, shortly before the end of the first confinement, Elisabeth Borne announced a plan of 20 million euros to facilitate the practice of cycling. “To encourage this movement [vers le vélo]we are strengthening the safety of cyclists by supporting the development of temporary cycle paths and we are encouraging as many people as possible to use bicycles by taking charge of repairs, the installation of parking spaces and even training.”she then defended.