France’s climate change monitoring association Citepa had predicted in March a yearly fall of 4.8 percent.

“We have had the definitive 2023 CO2 emissions figures from Citepa. They have in reality fallen in France by 5.8 percent,” Attal said.

Greenhouse emissions had already fallen 2.7 percent in 2022.

“No one can teach us anything in terms of ecological and environmental effectiveness,” Attal said.

France has set a goal of cutting its greenhouse emissions by 50 percent by 2030 to meet European commitments, which means it needs to start accelerating those falls.

Paris also aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Despite the government’s bullishness, several environmental groups have claimed such drops are largely cyclical.

Some groups have taken the state to court to try to force the government to take action to make up for its allegedly slow progress from 2015-18.