The world made a pledge in Paris 10 years ago: We must redeem it

All countries must work to meet the historic commitments made collectively at CoP-21 a decade ago. France is doing its bit

- EMMANUEL MACRON

(REUTERS)

It has been 10 years since the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (CoP-21), where 195 states made a historic commitment to work together to keep the long-term rise in global temperatures well below 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the rise to no more than 1.5° Celsius.

France played its part in making this great moment of universal solidarity a success. A decade later, we can be proud of how far we have come.

In France, we have reduced our greenhouse-gas emissions by 30% compared with 1990, including 20% between 2017 and 2024. We went from a reduction of less than 1% per year before 2017 to annual reductions of more than 2% on average from 2017 to 2021—and more than 4% on average between 2022 and 2024. Our goal is a 50% reduction by 2030, which means 270 million fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere every year. [It shows the] success of our unique approach to ecology, which combines progress and protection, and enables us to reduce both emissions and unemployment at the same time. We never impose a rule without providing an accessible alternative and refuse to sacrifice our competitiveness. Our aim is to combine sovereignty, employment and decarbonization. How? Through clear choices.

Ecology is at the heart of all our economic, planning, energy, agricultural and industrial policies. The National Low-Carbon Strategy is a case in point: it sets our course toward carbon neutrality, shaping all our policies. We rely on six principles: