the Minister of Agriculture evokes “normal temperatures for a summer” and is pinned by climatologists from the IPCC

“We did not have extreme temperatures, we rather had normal temperatures for a summer,” said Marc Fesneau on France Inter on Saturday.

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The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, during a session of questions to the government, at the National Assembly, in Paris, July 11, 2023. (GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

Blow of heat for the Minister of Agriculture. Marc Fesneau estimated on Saturday July 15 that the temperatures were not abnormal at the start of summer. “We did not have extreme temperatures, we had rather normal temperatures for a summer”he said on France Inter, when he was questioned on several topics such as drought, soil quality or the use of pesticides.

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The minister was quickly pinned on Twitter by climatologist Véronique Masson-Delmotte, the co-chair of group 1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). She highlighted data and graphs from Météo France.

What do the numbers say? Under the influence of global warming linked to human activities, the world experienced its hottest month of June on record, according to the European observatory Copernicus. As for France, it experienced its second hottest month of June, according to Météo France. According to our dashboard, for a year, in mainland France, 293 days have been warmer than the average temperature measured between 1971 and 2000. Since June 1, four days have been below standards and 41 above, a statement on Twitter agroclimatologist Serge Zaka.

“I am fully aware of the warming”

“I absolutely agree with what you say and I am fully aware of the global warming and the mortal danger for the future of humanity, for our agriculture and for our ecosystems of this disruption”replied Marc Fesneau to Valérie Masson-Delmotte on Twitter. “This year, overall, and to date, it is a slightly less dry start to summer than 2022 and less severe heat waves than last year with, on the other hand, a higher average temperature”he added, pointing out that Spain was facing “extreme conditions”.

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If Marc Fesneau assures that he is content to “describe a reality and facts” and that it listens to the conclusions of the IPCC, the climatologist Christophe Cassou, co-author of the 6th report of the IPCC, estimated on Twitter that the minister was “reassuring”while denouncing the behavior of certain environmentalists and the silence of the extreme right.


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