A mixed record. France’s greenhouse gas emissions rebounded in 2021 by 6.4% compared to 2020, due to the post-Covid economic recovery, but they still fell by 9.6% since 2017, according to provisional official figures published on Tuesday June 14. A “good result”responded the government, which believes it has “achieves its goals” but recognizes that we must accelerate the energy transition to continue to stay in the nails.
According to figures posted online by Citepa, the body mandated to carry out the French inventory of emissions, France emitted, in 2021, 418 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Compared to 2019, pre-pandemic level, emissions fell by 3.8%. “The pre-estimated rebound for 2021 does not return to the pre-crisis level: the downward trend in emissions continues”notes Citepa, which is due to publish its full report in the coming weeks.
This trend “shows that the government has initiated structural changes in our ways of producing, moving and consuming”welcomed the government, Tuesday, at the end of the Council of Ministers. “These results are of course only a step and it will be necessary to intensify the effort by doubling the rate of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the next five years”he added.
As part of the Paris agreement, France has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990. It was down to -23% in 2021, according to the latest figures from Citepa. “These results correspond to the trajectory planned by the National Low-Carbon Strategy”believes the executive.
But the deployment of renewable energies, in particular wind and solar, is still too slow and behind the objectives. French ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are also supposed to be increased as part of the strengthening of the European climate plan, to reach at least -55% by 2030 compared to 1990.
“As of this summer, an emergency law will give a boost to the deployment of renewable energies”declared the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, assuring that the country was on the trajectory towards carbon neutrality in 2050. In this context, the ministry highlights the development of “three pillars” : in addition to the acceleration of renewables, more “energy sobriety” and the revival of nuclear energy.