France must get out of the Energy Charter Treaty (TCE). This is the clear and clear recommendation made to the government by the High Council for the Climate, an independent body responsible for advising the government in the fight against global warming, in an opinion (PDF) posted Wednesday, October 19.
“The coordinated withdrawal of the TCE by France and the EU Member States appears to be the least risky option to allow the achievement of climate objectives and the respect of the decarbonization rates necessary by 2030”, writes the HCC. Clearly, to hope to respect the Paris agreement on the climate, it is necessary to leave the TCE.
>> Climate crisis: we explain why the Energy Charter Treaty is compared to a “collective suicide”
This little-known treaty, compared to a “collective suicide” by economist Yamina Saheb, was adopted in 1994 to secure foreign investment in energy after the fall of the USSR. It is now widely denounced, including by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as an obstacle to energy transition.
In particular, it allows companies that exploit fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) to challenge political decisions that are unfavorable to them before private courts. These energies, which emit a lot of greenhouse gases, are the main driver of global warming caused by human activities. After the adoption of a Dutch law banning coal by 2030, the German energy company RWE, for example, is claiming 1.4 billion euros from The Hague to compensate for its losses.
The European Union (EU) obtained in June that this TCE be reformed. This compromise, which must be adopted at a meeting in November, is considered insufficient by the High Council for the climate. “These advances do not meet the energy sector’s decarbonization timetables for 2030”he writes, before adding that “the entry into force of the modernized treaty could take several years, or even not succeed”.
In Europe, the Netherlands have already announced their desire to leave the treaty. The Dutch Minister for the Environment and Energy, Rob Jetten, believes that even reformed, the treaty “cannot be reconciled with the Paris agreement” on the climate, his ministry told AFP. Spain should do the same, according to information from the EFE agency.
And France? Since September 2, our country has been sued by a German company, unhappy with the modification of the tariffs for the purchase of renewable energies. But Paris has not yet formalized a position.
Contacted Thursday morning by franceinfo, the Ministry of Energy Transition ensures that an assessment is underway. “If the full assessment of the results of the negotiations does not match our ambitions and objectives, particularly in the climate field, we will have to draw the consequences and also consider a coordinated withdrawal from the ECT”we specify. A final decision should be taken in the next few days, assures the ministry.