France seeks deadline for world to stop using oil and coal

France has said it will push for a deadline for the world to quit oil and coal, upping the stakes ahead of crunch UN talks where ending fossil fuel use will weigh heavily on the negotiations to curb climate change.

Published: 5 September 2023 16:30 CEST

France seeks deadline for world to stop using oil and coal

The coal-fired Grootvlei Power Station in South Africa. Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO / AFP

The two-week COP28 conference in Dubai, starting November 30th, aims to build on the 2015 Paris Agreement to cap global warming at “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels, and 1.5C if possible.

But countries are at odds over the pace of the phaseout of the fossil fuel energy sources primarily responsible for planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions.

President Emmanuel Macron said last week that France will “bring a very clear agenda” to COP28 “with deadlines for quitting oil and coal, because that’s where we must focus the effort”.

On Monday, French Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told reporters the country will go to the climate talks – widely seen as the most important since Paris – advocating this position, “probably with a goal of quitting oil, with a deadline”.

“The objective is to bring on board as far as possible our European neighbours and all ambitious countries in climate matters ahead of COP28,” her office told AFP.

Neither Macron nor Pannier-Runacher mentioned natural gas, which generates nearly a quarter of electricity worldwide.

France is also looking for commitments from the oil and gas sector on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Pannier-Runacher added.

Key oil producers and consumers including Saudi Arabia and China have focused on the need to reduce emissions rather than the use of fossil fuels per se.

They promote the use of technologies that extract CO2 from power generation, industrial processes or directly from the air – and then stocking it underground – as a viable way to meet climate goals.

The oil industry should be aware that long-term trends point towards a phaseout of fossil fuels, Pannier-Runacher added on Monday.

Dealing directly with the main polluters and fossil fuel producers is “the only way” to get emissions reductions commitments approved, she said.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) is currently far ahead in opinion polls for the June 9th elections in France, with Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party in a battle for second place with the Socialists.

The debate between Attal, 35, and Bardella, 28, who leads the RN’s list in the EU elections, will be the first head-to-head clash between the two leading figures in a new French political generation.

Polls have been making increasingly uncomfortable reading for Macron, who has had to fly to the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia to try to calm the violent unrest there.

Coming third would be a disaster for the president, who portrays himself as a champion of European democracy and bulwark against the far right.

The head of Macron’s party list for the elections, the little known Valérie Heyer, has failed to make an impact and was widely seen as losing a debate with Bardella earlier this month.

According to a Toluna-Harris Interactive study for French media, the presidential camp is stuck at just 15 percent of the vote and in a dogfight for second place with the Socialists – who are on 14.5 percent – led by former commentator Raphael Glucksmann.

The RN, by contrast, is soaring ahead on 31.5 percent.

The RN’s figurehead Marine Le Pen, who has waged three unsuccessful presidential campaigns, has sought to bring the RN into the political mainstream as she eyes another tilt at the presidency in 2027.

“There is a very clear signal that must be sent to Emmanuel Macron. He must suffer the worst possible defeat to bring him back to earth,” Le Pen told CNews and Europe 1 this week.

Bardella, who took over the party leadership from his mentor, is key to Le Pen’s strategy, a gifted communicator of immigrant origin with an expanding following on TikTok.

Attal, also one of the best debaters in Macron’s government, is expected to seek to portray Bardella as an extremist, complacent over the threat posed by Russia and who has little interest in Europe.

Apparently aware of the danger, Bardella on Tuesday said the RN will no longer sit in the EU parliament with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction, indicating it had lost patience with the controversies surrounding its German allies.

The head of the AfD’s list in the polls, Maximilian Krah, had said in a weekend interview that someone who had been a member of the SS in Nazi Germany was “not automatically a criminal”.

Bardella is “putting his credibility and the future of his movement on the line in the debate”, said the Le Monde daily, adding that a strong performance could see some RN supporters regard him as a stronger candidate in 2027 than Le Pen.

You can find a more detailed profile of Attal HERE and a look at Bardella HERE