2023-07-04 06:30:06
The High Council for the Climate publishes its annual report evaluating public action in the field of climate. While he recognizes progress with the construction of a framework for action, he calls for the deployment of a major economic policy.
“We have gone beyond the policy of small steps, but we are not yet on the run”shares Corinne Le Quéré, President of the High Council for Climate (HCC), on the occasion of the publication of her fifth annual report “Act urgently, commit resources” June 28, 2023. It details the key messages of this new report: “The rate of decline in emissions is not at all up to the challenges, there are blockages in all sectors. On the other hand, there is a strategy in place and actors mobilized. We are in a rather favorable position, but we need an economic policy commensurate with the challenges to achieve the objectives raised at European level. »
If the drop in the country’s gross greenhouse gas emissions continues (-2.7%), it remains mainly due to economic reasons: the Covid-19 epidemic, mild winter and calls for sobriety. In addition, the decline in removals by carbon sinks in the land sector (-21%) undermines net emissions targets. “In 2022, the spring drought and the summer fires suggest a deterioration in the carbon stocks of the forests over this last year and therefore a breach of the carbon budget. [en termes d’émissions nettes pour la période 2019-2022 de la stratégie nationale bas-carbone, NDLR] »says Corinne Le Quéré.
Double the rate of annual emission reductions
While the European target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions has fallen from -40% to -55% in 2030, France will have to almost double the annual rate of reduction of its emissions. “The decrease observed for gross emissions is 9.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2eq) over the period 2019-2022”, shares Corinne Le Quéré. Before the reinforcement of the European objectives, the current national low-carbon strategy (SNBC) proposed a reduction objective of 12 MtCO2eq over the period 2023-2030. The ongoing revision of the SNBC should imply an annual reduction of 17 MtCO2eq over the period.
Raising emission reduction targets between sectors by 2030 will depend on government choices. But these declines will be “important and fast”, warns Corinne Le Quéré. We are talking regarding a factor of 3.5 to 5 for the transport and energy sector, 1.25 to 3.5 for agriculture, between 1.4 and 1.6 for industry and 1 .2 for the building. “And carbon sinks must increase sharply, while they decrease”adds Corinne Le Quéré.
A framework for climate action to be consolidated
Regarding public action on the climate, the HCC believes that if the framework for action is built and mobilizes stakeholders, “However, the coherence and alignment of strategies with climate objectives are not guaranteed”. “Monitoring and evaluation systems are also often incomplete”, continues Corine Le Quéré. This is particularly the case of the building where the overall renovation objectives have not been achieved or even the electrification objectives for the car.
“The strategy is not accompanied by a major economic policy to trigger the necessary acceleration”, insists the president of the HCC. The institution calls for the transformation of economic policy in order to achieve the expected reductions in emissions and to implement transformational adaptation. “This includes fiscal, tax, trade, industrial and employment policy”adds the president.
There are indeed several packages of measures, for example for electric vehicles and construction, but the incentives and the associated financial means remain insufficient. “Additional public support is needed to reach around 30 billion euros per year in 2030, all sectors combined, i.e. half of the public and private financing needed”, adds the climatologist. This need is to be compared to climate-unfavorable spending, which includes 43 billion euros planned for the tariff shield in 2023, 10 billion euros for tax loopholes and 6.3 billion euros for other devices.
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