gas and oil”, deplores the environmentalist deputy Julien Bayou

As COP28 opens Thursday in Dubai, environmentalist MP Julien Bayou believes that “France is not up to the task” on the environmental issue.

COP28, a major conference where countries around the world must make new commitments against climate change, opens Thursday, November 30 in Dubai, one of the petromonarchies of the United Arab Emirates, with the Sultan at the helm of the event. al-Jaber who is the CEO of the first Emirati oil company. But France itself “has a real tendency to avoid talking about angry subjects: gas and oil”, deplores the environmentalist deputy Julien Bayou, guest of franceinfo Thursday. He attacks TotalÉnergies which “is one of the companies that will destroy the planet” with the support of the government.

This COP28 chaired by the CEO of an oil company, “of course it can seem hopeless” concedes Julien Bayou, “and yet, we increasingly need this framework for multilateral discussion. It is particularly the countries of the South who are demanding it because otherwise, it is discussed at the G8 or it is not discussed at all.” It is therefore imperative to participate.

For the MP, “France is not up to the task”. However, according to him, we can begin to say that the COP is a success when commitments are made on the end of gas and oil, and France is the first to have to act: “When we say ‘fossil fuels’, we shouldn’t only talk about coal, because France has a hell of a tendency to only talk about coal to avoid talking about subjects that are annoying, that is to say gas and oil”.

Julien Bayou criticizes in particular a double discourse of the French authorities which will “on the international scene say ‘Make our planet great again'”and at the same time “multiplies fossil projects”. The elected official cites, for example, the commissioning last October of the “Cape Inn”, TotalÉnergies’ floating LNG terminal in Le Havre: “We made a golden bridge to Total to import ever more shale gas. It’s the worst we can do in terms of hydrocarbons. It’s the worst for the planet and we don’t need it” .

TotalÉnergies’ “Eacop” mega oil project in Uganda and Tanzania, which Emmanuel Macron “personally supports”is also singled out by Julien Bayou, who believes that it “we must put an end to this terrible project for Uganda and Tanzania and which is a climate bomb”.

“Total is one of the companies that will destroy the planet. What do you want me to tell you? These are deadly profits. They only speak as an entrepreneur or a company that seeks profit. I understand that”he explains, but because “national and international interest” must take precedence, he deplores “that the public authorities do nothing to be less dependent on this oil”.