France passes its turn. Nineteen countries announced Thursday, November 4, to end, by the end of 2022, the funding abroad of fossil energy projects without carbon capture techniques. Among the signatories of this agreement described as historic by observers, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada … but not France, which appears to be the major absentee of this coalition made in COP26.
“The French government, absent from the list of signatories, misses the mark to position itself in the group of progressive countries “, estimated Lucile Dufour, Senior Policy Advisor at the IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development) on the sidelines of the summit. A position shared by Anne-Lena Rebaud, Climate Campaigner for Friends of the Earth. “By staying out of the deal, they are on the wrong side of history. France is not ambitious enough”, she denounces to franceinfo.
The positioning of the Ministry of Ecology, which did not respond to requests from franceinfo, is deciphered by Anne-Lena Rebaud, expert on the issue within the NGO Friends of the Earth. According to her, Paris has long presented itself as being at the forefront of the fight against fossil fuels abroad. The executive therefore presents this refusal to join the coalition, according to her, as the refusal of any compromise. In question, in its wording, the agreement leaves open the possibility of the exception. “Their argument [de la France], that is to say that we will continue to finance gas until 2035, ‘but we, when we stop, we will stop completely’ “, translated Anne-Lena Rebaud to franceinfo.
A position difficult to understand for the Climate campaigner of Friends of the Earth. “France could still have joined the declaration, but that did not prevent them from making a policy Again more ambitious than the other signatory countries of the agreement “, she defends.
The existence of a prior coalition is another argument of France to justify this lack of signature, according to specialists contacted by franceinfo. In spring 2021, Paris joined a coalition with similar ambition called Export Finance for Future, alongside from the United Kingdom, from the’Germany, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden. The will displayed by Bercy is in particular “to impose restrictions on fossil fuel projects abroad.”
Problem, no binding date to achieve this goal has been clearly defined. “We are, however, in a climate emergency”, remember Armelle Le Comte, in charge of climate at Oxfam. “Today, France’s commitment is completely against history. In the end, it only commits to stopping fossil financing abroad in 2025 for oil and in 2035 for gas “, she regrets.
This national withdrawal, in the face of a coalition at the initiative of London, can finally be analyzed through the prism of competition between neighboring countries. “There is has a real geopolitical stake, against a background of tensions with Brexit “, abounds Anne-Lena Rebaud.
“France had a desire to position itself as a leader in the greening of fossil fuels, but the United Kingdom has completely caught up with it. London no longer funds overseas fossil fuel projects at all since March 2021“, she greets.
The State should, during COP26, join another coalition, that of Beyond Oil Gas Alliance. The latter guarantees “the end of the exploitation of oil and gas on its territory” for his signatories, explains the spokesperson for Oxfam. TO failure to engage on the external scene.