Unprecedented fires, historic droughts, deadly storms… Extreme weather events marked the summer in France and the rest of Europe. In response, the government wants to invest in the field of combating global warming, making it one of the priority files for the start of the school year.
This is demonstrated in particular by the working dinner between Emmanuel Macron and Élisabeth Borne this Tuesday night, where “all the issues of returning to school” were discussed, with the first and foremost being the “general mobilization on energy sobriety” , before the Council of Ministers back this Wednesday.
According to the Elysee, this dinner was an opportunity for the president and the head of government to take stock of “the progress of the different priorities of recent weeks”, starting with the objective of “energy sobriety” and “ecological planning” . A work meeting prior to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, where the climatic events of the summer will be the number one topic. On August 31, members of the government must comply with an ecological seminar.
invoices in preparation
Other speeches on this topic are planned: Prime Minister Borne will deliver a “strong speech on energy sobriety and transition” at the Medef summer school at the end of August. The head of state also asked him to “present an ecological planning agenda broken down by month and year in the fall,” recalls the Elysee. Emmanuel Macron will also wet his shirt, with a trip dedicated to offshore wind turbines, scheduled for early September.
A multiplication of speeches that seems to respond to the discretion of Christophe Béchu, the Minister of Ecological Transition, rarely seen on the ground this summer. Asked by Aude on the subject this Tuesday on BFMTV, the elected official argued that it was his “fourth trip since August.”
In Parliament, the government is preparing several bills to rethink the energy mix, in particular accelerating the development of renewable energies. During his televised speech on July 14, Emmanuel Macron announced the launch of a major energy sobriety plan, while the war in Ukraine increases the risk of shortages. The goal announced by the government is to reduce energy consumption by 10%, compared to 2019.
Another law is in preparation: the energy and climate law, announced by Elisabeth Borne during her general policy statement to the Assembly. Starting in September, a “broad consultation” will be launched with a view to this law, which could be adopted at the beginning of 2023. Finally, in terms of renewable energy, the government hopes to have a bill approved by the fall, to do for France’s great backwardness in wind and solar energy.
“This is what should have been done 20 years ago”
Initiatives considered too “timid” by the opposition, headed by Europe Écologie-Les Verts and its secretary Julien Bayou.
“This is what should have been done 20 years ago,” said the national secretary of the EELV.
“We put billions of euros into coal power plants, shale gas, nuclear power. We have to put money, investment, in renewable energy”, he lambasted.
During his campaign, Emmanuel Macron had promised to make France a great ecological nation and to invest in that direction. A commitment in line with the collective awareness of public opinion about the climate emergency, assumed with the aim of putting an end to the test of climate inaction that has been pursuing it for five years.
Source: BFM TV
