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CLIMATE CRISIS

Heat pumps and suburban trains: What’s Macron’s climate plan for France?

French President Emmanuel Macron laid out a new climate plan on Monday that's aimed at ending the country's dependence on fossil fuels and making its economy greener.

Heat pumps and suburban trains: What's Macron's climate plan for France?
Macron unveiled France's approach at climate-related commitments within the next seven years after special government meeting on Monday.(Photo by Daniel LEAL / AFP)

President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France will triple its heat pump production over the next four years as part of a government climate plan.

Calling heat pumps “a fabulous lever for substitution, with much lower energy consumption and emissions”, Macron said France would produce one million such devices, and train 30,000 people able to install them, by 2027 when Macron leaves office after two terms.

Heat pumps can both heat and cool air, and are increasingly seen as a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuel heating systems such as gas boilers, as well as air conditioning.

According to the International Energy Agency, the heating of space and water accounts for almost half of the global energy use in buildings, with nearly two thirds being covered with fossil fuels.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron (3rdR) speaks at the opening of a special climate meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on September 25, 2023. (Photo by Michel Euler / POOL / AFP)

It has called for faster deployment of heat pumps and other means of decarbonising heat to meet governments’ commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Speaking after a session of a council on climate held at the presidential palace with key ministers, Macron also said that the government would spend 700 million euros ($740 million) on the creation of 13 suburban train lines, known as RER, in and around French cities “to encourage people to switch from private cars to lower-emission public transport”.

Contracts would be signed with regional authorities that would allow France’s rail industries to launch new projects, and create jobs, he said.

The climate plan would help make France more “sovereign”, “competitive” and “fair” as it decarbonises the economy, he said.

France has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared to their 1990 levels.

This, Macron said, meant France had to move “twice as fast” now compared to previous years.

Industrial solutions

Turning to the price of energy, which has risen in the context of oil price rises, war in Ukraine and inflation, Macron said that France would “take back control of our electricity prices” by next month.

This, he said, would make the cost of energy both “bearable” and “visible” for households and companies.

Macron said he stood by his target of France producing at least one million electric cars by 2027, and becoming an exporter of car batteries the same year.

The climate plan, Macron said, was part of France’s strategy to foster “an ecology that creates economic value” in Europe, and to end “our dependence on fossil fuels” the price of which he said totalled 120 billion euros per year for France.

As part of the plan, Macron said the government would work with high-emissions large industries such as steel and cement making and chemical industries to reduce their carbon footprint.

Its mining sector would explore for metals, including lithium and cobalt, needed for battery production, he said.

The country would also seek out sources of natural hydrogen in its territory for use in the transition towards cleaner energy.

France was also examining its possibilities to install “at least one site” for carbon capture, a fledgling process by which carbon is extracted from the air and stored, increasingly seen as necessary to reduce global warming.

A French solution for carbon capture would “reduce our dependence on the outside world” in that area, Macron said.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

New report warns of heat danger at Paris Olympics

A new report backed by climate scientists and athletes warns about the dangers of extreme high temperatures at this year's Paris Olympics - as the city has been experiencing increasingly severe heatwaves in recent years due to the climate crisis.

New report warns of heat danger at Paris Olympics

Although the summer in northern France has so far been unusually damp and cool, the long-term forecast from Météo France says that France is likely to experience temperatures above seasonal norms this summer, including during the Games period of July, August and September.

The Rings of Fire report – a collaboration between non-profit Climate Central, academics at Britain’s University of Portsmouth and 11 Olympians – said conditions in Paris could be worse than the last Games in Tokyo in 2021.

It warned that “intense heat at the Paris Olympics in July-August 2024 could lead to competitors collapsing and in worst case scenarios dying during the Games.”

The study adds to a growing number of calls from sports people to adjust schedules and the timing of events to take into account the physical strain of competing in higher temperatures caused by the climate crisis.

Rings of Fire urges organisers of competitions typically held at the height of the northern hemisphere summer – such as the Olympics or the football World Cup – to re-think their scheduling.

They should also provide improved rehydration and cooling plans for athletes and fans to avoid the risk of heat stroke, the study argued.

The Paris Olympics, which run from July 26th to August 11th, followed by the Paralympics from August 28th to September 8th – are set to take place in what are usually the warmest months in the French capital which has been struck by a series of record heatwaves in recent years.

More than 5,000 people died in France as a result of searing summer heat last year when new local highs above 40C (104 Fahrenheit) were recorded around the country, according to public health data.

The city’s all-time temperature record of 42.6C was set during a heatwave in 2019.

A study in the Lancet Planet Health journal last May found that Paris had the highest heat-related death rates of 854 European towns and cities, partly due to its lack of green space and dense population.

Last summer, city planners ran a series of emergency planning simulations for when temperatures reach 50C, which is expected in the coming decades.

Grass roofs and siestas: How Paris is preparing for the day when the temperature reaches 50C

Rather than high temperatures, incessant rain is currently the bigger weather-related concern for organisers, with regular downpours in May and June leading to unusually strong currents in the river Seine and poor water quality.

The Seine is set to host a boat parade during the unprecedented opening ceremony being planned for July 26th, as well as the triathlon swimming and marathon swimming events – pollution permitting.

Organisers of Paris 2024 say they have built flexibility into their schedules, enabling them to shift around some events such as the marathon or triathlon to avoid the peaks of midday heat.

But much of the Games is set to take place in temporary stands that lack shade, while the athletes’ village has been built without air conditioning to reduce the Games’ carbon footprint.

“Sleep disruption due to heat has been cited in the build-up to the 2024 Games as a major concern by athletes, especially given the lack of air conditioning in the Olympic Village,” the report said.

Olympic teams have been offered the possibility of installing portable air-conditioning units in their accommodation, however, which many have opted to include.

One of the athletes who backed the Rings of Fire report, Indian triathlete Pragnya Mohan, said she had left her home country because of high temperatures, with the country recently reporting its longest ever heatwave.

“With climate change, the kind of heat that we experience has increased so much,” Mohan told reporters. “I am not able to train in my country. That is one of the reasons that I moved to the UK.”

The last Summer Olympics in Tokyo were widely thought to have been the hottest on record, with temperatures regularly above 30C coupled with 80 percent humidity.

Tokyo organisers moved the race walk events and two marathons 800 kilometres north of Tokyo in the hope of cooler weather that did not really materialise.

Despite a range of anti-heat measures including misting stations, many athletes struggled while performing, including Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev who wondered aloud on court if he might die.

Speaking after Tokyo, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, who wrote a foreword for Rings of Fire, warned that the “new norm” was competing in “really harsh climatic conditions”.

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