France will no longer finance fossil fuel exploitation projects abroad by the end of 2022

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According to Minister Barbara Pompili, “the fight against climate change means turning the page on fossil fuels”.

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France has finally joined the agreement ending foreign funding of fossil fuel projects without carbon capture techniques by the end of 2022, announced the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili on Friday, November 12. “The fight against climate change means turning the page on fossil fuels “, she wrote on Twitter from Glasgow (UK), greeting “a decision of consistency for France”.

On November 4, around 20 countries signed this agreement (in English), including the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. At first, France had not joined this coalition, judging that the text was too little ambitious. This indeed provides for exceptions, “under limited and clearly defined circumstances that are consistent with a 1.5 ° C warming limit and the goals of the Paris Agreement “. But this initial absence had been strongly criticized by many environmental organizations.

“The French government is finally giving in to pressure from diplomacy and civil society”, reacted Lorette Philippot, finance campaign manager at Friends of the Earth. “This is a crucial victory after years of mobilizing against climate-damaging fossil fuel subsidies abroad.”

The G20 nations had agreed to stop supporting coal-fired power plant projects abroad. But this new plan includes for the first time gas and oil and contains the promise to redirect this money towards renewable energies. If this commitment is kept, more than $ 15 billion should benefit clean energy, experts say.


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