Twelve Ministers of Ecology recount 40 years of procrastination in the face of the challenge of the century

2015-2023

“The idea is there, the reality is not”

Insoluble contradictions in the face of urgency

COP21 shifts the Ministry of Ecology, occupied by Ségolène Royal, into another dimension. The preparation of the event gives the subject unprecedented weight within the entire government. Even in the face of Bercy, all-category champion of ministerial arm wrestling, the Environment is pushing for arbitrations, such as the ban on thermal sieves or the objective of renovating 500,000 homes per year. These come to strengthen its future law “on the ecological transition and for green growth”. “How did I do it? COP21! COP21! COP21! We had to live up to COP21”, remembers the minister during a hearing before the Senate. “The idea was to be exemplary and anticipate the conclusions of the COP in our own strategy.” Expected to be at the turning point, France is enshrining in law its objective of dividing its greenhouse gas emissions by four by 2050. It is also adopting a road map to achieve this: the national low-carbon strategy .

The Paris Agreement celebrates a new objective: “Contain the rise in temperatures well below 2°C” by the end of the century. Just elected in 2017, Emmanuel Macron chose to embody this “spirit of Paris”, a media figure, the very popular Nicolas Hulot. Its climate plan must “mobilize the entire government over the months and years to come to make the Paris Agreement a reality.” But the former host slammed the door eleven months later by denouncing “little steps” of France on the subject.

In this year 2018, the French are more aware than ever of the climate threat. COP21 was there, but also hurricanes Irma and Maria, which swept across the Antilles. In high schools and in the streets, teenagers are calling for action, galvanized by the young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, received at the National Assembly. But the French are not ready to accept everything in the name of the climate. In a context of rising fuel prices and declining purchasing power, an increase in the carbon tax, decided long ago, voted by parliamentarians and defended by the executive, triggers the “yellow vest” movement, which take over streets and roundabouts.

“I had the feeling that the ‘budgetary ministers’ – we’ll call them that – somewhat forgot to defend the carbon tax, which they had nevertheless increased significantly.” squeaks François de Rugy, who takes over from the host. Climate policy must now be explained. “Some hid a little”, he blurted out to former colleagues. The measure is so unpopular that even the defenders of this tax, from NGOs to environmentalists, are distancing themselves from the proposal. It was abandoned in 2019.

“There are people who push, who say that we are not doing enough. And then, the day there is resistance among the population, well, they do not take responsibility in front of the angry citizens. “

François de Rugy at franceinfo

And the ex-minister echoes the antiphon of the very first Minister of Ecology. “It’s not that it’s the ‘ministry of the impossible’: it’s the ministry of contradictions, between an aspiration to do more, faster, stronger, and a resistance to change, which is undoubtedly a little in each of us”he summarizes.

Reconciling angry French people and ecology, mission impossible? While public authorities are called upon to redouble their efforts, the “ministry of contradictions” subcontracts the impossible to a panel of French people, brought together in the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate. “We gave them the mission, at the start, to completely change our economic, social, political, fiscal policy, etc. In short, to change the world,” summarizes Barbara Pompili, who in July 2020 inherits the follow-up of this unprecedented reflection, carried out by 150 citizens chosen at random.

This sprawling mission results in 150 proposals, which it aims to enshrine in a legal text. “From the first meetings, I told the members of the Citizens’ Convention: ‘I’m going to disappoint you, that’s for sure.’” And for good reason, some of these measuresare of a regulatory or international nature”, notes Barbara Pompili, invited by her Prime Minister to work more closely with her other colleagues. She is still breaking her teeth: “Jean Castex still said that all ministries had to invest in the transition, and not just the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The idea was there. The reality, no.”

“Most often I was faced with people who wanted to lower ambition rather than trying to find ways to get there.”

Barbara Pompili at franceinfo

Industrialists may well be invited to the discussion table, but they do not hesitate to “get involved with various ministries” to nip in the bud the sobriety measures born from the Citizens’ Convention, she continues. She cites the idea of ​​a penalty on the weight of vehicles, crushed by an automobile sector which weighs heavily on decisions. “I would have liked to go faster, to be able to do more things, to break more barriers.” assures Barbara Pompili, who describes herself in “eternally frustrated”. “But I arrived knowing where I was going. I knew it would be hard, that there would be lots of lobbies.”

These last few years have seen the climate creep into all circles, all debates. They also saw a first, spectacular drop in greenhouse gas emissions when the whole world went into lockdown, in the spring of 2020, to try to stop the Covid-19 pandemic. But the “world after” long-awaited does not survive this parenthesis, and global greenhouse gas emissions are soaring. The challenge now is “colossal indeed”, recognizes Christophe Béchu, Minister of Ecological Transition since May 2022, a few days before the presentation of the new government plan. The one which should make it possible, once again, to halve France’s emissions by 2030… four times faster than before.

From the fifth wheel of the carriage, ecology will become the engine of the government vehicle, promises the Head of State, campaigning for his re-election. “We must reconcile the country through a paradigm shift, through a new ambition” on the environment, proclaims the president-candidate. Once re-elected, Emmanuel Macron reviews the attribution of the climate file by charging the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, with carrying out ecological planning, with a dedicated general secretariat. At his side, a pair shares the ecological transition and the energy transition. Unthinkable in fact, given the emergencies, to leave the climate issue to the “ministry of the impossible” alone. Will this umpteenth new method change the situation? The “house” continues to burn, in France as elsewhere. We are now watching the flames, but the challenge remains to put out the fire.