Yes, France has signed and ratified the Paris Agreement. The INDC maybe fond here and the NDC here (common with the ones of the European Union, with some specificities for overseas communities. 

The fight against the intensification of the greenhouse effect and the prevention of the risks resulting from global warming are recognized national priorities in the French Environmental Code [1]. In this context, GHG emissions are regulated and France participates in the EU emissions trading system (EU-ETS). A low carbon strategy is also implemented. 

In particular, the Act No. 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 on Energy Transition for Green Growth [2] enshrined climate change objectives as it introduced the National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC - Stratégie Nationale Bas-Carbone), France's roadmap for tackling climate change. It provides guidelines for implementing the transition to a low-carbon, circular and sustainable economy. It sets a trajectory for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sets short- and medium-term objectives called carbon budgets. Its ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and reduce the carbon footprint of French consumption. Public decision-makers at the national and local levels must take it into account.

The Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate [3] provides notably to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 [4]. This target, and some others to address climate emergencies, are integrated into the French Energy Code [5].

A Bill to combat climate change and strengthen resilience to its effects [6] is currently being discussed by the French Parliament. It implements some of the proposals of the Citizens' Convention for Climate (Convention citoyenne pour le climat), which aims at achieving a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

[1] Article L. 229-1 of the French Environmental Code.

[2] Loi n° 2015-992 du 17 août 2015 relative à la transition énergétique pour la croissance verte.

[3] Loi "relative à l'énergie et au climat".

[4] Article 1 of Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate.

[5] In particular in Article L. 100-4 of the French Energy Code.

[6] Projet de loi "portant lutte contre le dérèglement climatique et renforcement de la résilience face à ses effets".

Yes. In the application of the Paris Agreement, the Act No. 2017-1839 of 30 December 2017 terminating the exploration for and exploitation of hydrocarbons and laying down various provisions relating to energy and the environment [7] put a direct stop to the exploration and introduced a progressive stop to the extraction of hydrocarbons and coal in France.

Besides, Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate provides to reduce the primary energy consumption of fossil energy by 40% in 2030 compared to 2012 [8].

Regarding nuclear energy, the said Act on Energy and Climate provides to reduce its part in global electricity production to 50% by 2035 [9].

[7] Loi "mettant fin à la recherche ainsi qu'à l'exploitation des hydrocarbures et portant diverses dispositions relatives à l'énergie et à l'environnement".

[8] Article 1 of Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate.

[9] Article 1 of Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate.

In particular, since meetings organized between the State, local communities, social partners and NGOs from July to October 2007 (said "Grenelle de l’environnement"), many acts and implementation measures have been adopted to take into account and fight against climate change.

For example:

Act No. 2009-967 of 3 August 2009 planning the implementation of the Grenelle of the environment [10], said Act "Grenelle 1"; 

Act No. 2010-788 of 12 July 2010 on national environmental commitment [11], said Act "Grenelle 2";

Act No. 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 on related to energy transition for green growth [1012];

the Act No. 2017-1839 of 30 December 2017 terminating the exploration for and exploitation of hydrocarbons and laying down various provisions relating to energy and the environment (see above, answer to question "Have national policies or legislation been adopted limiting or prohibiting the use of certain fossil fuels (e.g. coal, natural gas, nuclear)?");

the Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate (see above answers to questions "What are the key national policy instruments regarding climate change and what are the national long term greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction targets?" and "Have national policies or legislation been adopted limiting or prohibiting the use of certain fossil fuels (e.g. coal, natural gas, nuclear)?").

Please note that the Bill to combat climate change and strengthen resilience to its effects currently under discussion by the Parliament is purported to implement significant changes.

[10] Loi "de programmation relative à la mise en œuvre du Grenelle de l'environnement". 

[11] Loi "portant engagement national pour l'environnement".

[12] Loi "relative à la transition énergétique pour la croissance verte".

Yes. France participates in the EU emissions trading system (EU-ETS). 

No, even if it is regularly considered.

In the transport sector, an ecological malus was instituted by the Finance Act for 2021. It is an additional tax levied on the vehicle license (carte grise). It applies, depending on the characteristics of the vehicle, if the carbon dioxide emissions or the administrative power of the vehicle exceed the threshold set.

Yes. The French Environmental Code provides for rules related to, notably, the search of subterranean formations suitable for geological storage of carbon dioxide and the operation of geological storage of carbon dioxide. 

Yes, the production of power from renewable energy sources benefits from a State support scheme. The use of such sources does not currently benefit from State support.

Several national mechanisms encourage the production of renewable energy sources: (i) the purchase obligation ("obligation d’achat"), which consists in obliging EDF (or other power suppliers) to purchase any kilowatt-hour injected in the public network at a pre-determined price; (ii) the contract for difference ("complément de rémuneration"), which is a prime given to a producer of renewable energy in addition to the sale of its energy on the market; and (iii) the guarantees of origin (“garanties d’origine”), which are titles that can be sold on the market by renewable power producers.

Besides, Article 33 of Act No. 2019-1147 on Energy and Climate creates "experimental contracts" ("contrat d'expérimentation") that open public support mechanisms to electricity production based on renewable and innovative energy. These provisions are integrated with Articles L. 314-29 and following the Energy Code.

The Government's "France Relance" package presented on 3 September 2020 establishes a subsidy scheme for the development and use of renewable energies. It provides for additional financing for companies in the renewable energy sector, and for industries to use renewable energy sources. It includes a financing plan for the hydrogen sector of €2 billion over the period 2020-2022 and nearly €7.2 billion by 2030 to support R&D and industrial projects, as well as a compensation scheme for the additional costs for VSEs/SMEs/ETIs induced by the use of low-carbon energy compared to fossil energy.

The main actions of the State in this matter are:

• the regulation of construction and renovation sectors by imposing the achievement of a certain level of energy performance in buildings (e.g. 2012 thermal norm for new buildings; Act No. 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 related to energy transition for green growth provides to have a housing stock in which all buildings are renovated according to "low-energy building" or similar standards by 2050, by implementing a policy of thermal renovation of housing, mainly for low-income households);
• fixing targets for the reduction of energy consumption in tertiary buildings (e.g. Decree No. 2019-771 of 23 July 2019);
• proposing schemes and financial aid to build and renovate buildings in a carbon economical way (e.g. energy transition tax credit).

The Bill to combat climate change and strengthen resilience to its effects provides for measures to support the energy renovation of buildings. It notably provides for the acceleration of the renovation of "thermal sieves" (passoires thermiques, i.e. housing with excessive energy consumption) in order to reach the target set in the 2019 law by creating an indicator to monitor the number of "thermal sieves" in the housing stock, an obligation to carry out an energy audit, a ban on increasing rents and on renting out such housing for the first time.

The Act No. 2019-1428 of 24 December 2019 on mobility orientations [13] revises the general framework of mobility policies to integrate environmental concerns. It has 4 objectives: moving away from car dependency, accelerating the growth of new mobility, succeeding in the ecological transition (e.g. prohibition to sell some cars using carbon fossil energy by 2040, implementation of a bicycle plan, etc.), programming investments in transport infrastructures.

The Finance Act for 2021 provides for measures to support low-emission vehicles, new electric and hydrogen vehicles. It provided for the lowering of the threshold for the car CO2 penalty and the increase of the penalty ceiling, as well as the creation of a weight-based car penalty as of 2022, designed as economic signals to encourage a reduction in emissions from the sector. It also increased the ecological bonus amount, which applies to newly bought vehicles emitting less than 20g CO2/km, to encourage the switch to clean vehicles by private households and legal entities.

The "France Relance" package provided for an increase of the electric bonus attributed to electric car buyers to accelerate the electrification of the car fleet. The amount of the electric bonus will progressively decrease as of July 2021.

The Bill to combat climate change and strengthen resilience to its effects takes measures to amplify the change in everyday travel initiated by the aforementioned Act of 24 December 2019 on mobility orientations. It promotes alternatives to private cars and transition to a fleet of less carbon-intensive vehicles, modifies the organization of transport within cities with the creation of low emission zones for agglomerations with more than 150,000 inhabitants, and provides measures to encourage the use of public rather than individual transportation. It also encourages the use of trains rather than planes by banning domestic flights when a train alternative exists in less than 2.5 hours and providing for systematic carbon offsetting of domestic flights, which should be integral by 2024.

[13] Loi "d'orientation des mobilités"

France regulates for a long time industrial activities, notably through the legislation related to facilities classified for the protection of the environment (ICPE) which imposes to hold an appropriate operating permit. The said permit may integrate the right the emit some GHG and may be modified any time as long as there would be any hazard or inconvenience for the environment, public health, etc. Besides, and as already mentioned, France participates in the EU emissions trading system (EU-ETS).

As mentioned above, the "France Relance" package entails financing schemes to compensate for the use of low-carbon energy sources by VSEs/SMEs/ETIs in order to accelerate their energy transition.

The Bill to combat climate change and strengthen resilience to its effects includes provisions designed to ensure that the national research strategy provided for in Article L. 111-6 of the French Research Code is consistent with the low-carbon strategy [14] mentioned in Article L. 222-1 of the French Environmental Code.

[14] Stratégie nationale bas-carbone (SNBC).

In terms of agriculture and land use, Article L. 211-8 of the French Energy Code requires that the State publishes and complies with a "National Biomass Mobilisation Strategy" ("stratégie nationale de mobilisation de la biomasse"). This obligation was created by Act No. 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 related to energy transition for green growth.

France's National Biomass Mobilisation Strategy was published by Ministerial Decree on 26 February 2018. The aim of the National Biomass Mobilisation Strategy is "to develop the positive externalities linked to the mobilization, and de facto, increased use of biomass, in particular for climate change mitigation.”

In addition to this global document, France has adopted specific schemes aiming to promote reasonable use of biomass such as the Plan for Competitiveness and Farming Adaptation ("plan de compétitivité et d’adaptation des exploitations agricole"). This measure is an investment aid for farming infrastructures, environment and agriculture diversification. It aims to help farms adapt to new economic, social and environmental challenges. One of the four priorities of the plan is to promote investments in energy savings and renewable energy production on farms, in particular through methanization.

In addition, as a Member of the European Union, France has to respect its obligations set out by Regulation 2018/841 of 30 May 2018 on the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land-use change and forestry ("LULUC"). Like the other Member States, under the 2030 climate and energy policy framework, France accounts for emissions and removals from managed forest land for the commitment periods 2021-2025 and 2026-2030 on the basis of a Forest Reference Level (FRL). France's FRL for 2021-2025 and 2026-2030 was published in December 2018 and is accessible here.

France's main national measures taken in this sector can be found in the very recently adopted Act on Energy and Climate (Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019), already mentioned above. This piece of legislation sets out the following main objectives: reduction of fossil fuel consumption by 40% in 2030 compared to 2012; aim to bring renewable energy up to 33% of gross inland energy consumption in 2030; encourage offshore wind power plants with an objective of 1 gigawatt of attribution per year until 2024; reduce nuclear power to 50% of French electricity production by 2035 [15].

Other more specific provisions of this Act with regards to electricity production can be identified. For all fossil fuel electricity production power plants that issue over 0,55 tons of equivalent carbon dioxide per megawatt per hour, the Act introduces a maximum amount of GHG that they can emit. This obligation will be enforceable as of 1 January 2022 [16].

As already mentioned, Article 33 of Act No. 2019-1147 creates "experimental contracts" ("contrat d'expérimentation") that open public support mechanisms to electricity production based on renewable and innovative energy. These provisions are integrated in Articles L. 314-29 and following of the Energy Code.

The Act also enables the French Government to take Ministerial Orders to transpose Directive (EU) 2019/944 of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU and enables the Government to adopt any complementary regulation for the enforcement of the EU Regulation 2019/943 of 5 June 2019 on the internal market for electricity.

The Act also provides for other favorable measures towards renewable energies in the electric sector such as the possibility to heighten the power of a hydroelectric installation of the concessionary network [17] and the modification of Article L. 111-7 of the French Urban Code to facilitate the development of photovoltaic projects [18].

Finally, the Bill to combat climate change and strengthen resilience to its effects includes provisions aimed at affirming compatibility between the regional plans for development, sustainable development and territorial equality (SRADDET), a central planning tool at the regional level, and the Multiannual Energy Plan (PPE - Programmation pluriannuelle de l'énergie) and its regional version.

[15] Article 1 of Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate.

[16] Article 12 of Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate.

[17] Article 43 of Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate.

[18] Article 44 of Act No. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and Climate.

N/A

Several cases of climate litigation must be signaled.

Administrative courts have stated in cases in which the State was accused of not having taken the necessary legislative or regulatory measures to fight against climate change.

The French Conseil d'Etat, in a judgment of 19 November 2020 on the action brought by the town of Grande Synthe, considered that it did not have the necessary elements to judge whether the State's refusal to take measures was compatible with the respect of its engagements to achieve climate goals, and asked the Government to provide justifications to assess such compatibility within 3 months. It affirms an obligation of result for the State, which must justify the effectiveness of the objectives and the measures laid out in planification documents.

In the context of the "case of the century" ("l'Affaire du Siècle"), an action brought by four NGOs [19], the Paris Administrative Court ruled on 3 February 2021 recognizing the existence of a climate obligation for the French State and of ecological prejudice due to climate change resulting from the State's failure to honor the targets set in its carbon budget.

Actions against private companies have also been introduced before judicial courts: in these cases, it is alleged that the said companies did not comply with their environmental and human rights obligations.

Notes:

[19] Greenpeace, Oxfam, Notre affaire à tous, FNH.

None