France’s top climate advisory body has called for renewed urgency in tackling climate change, warning that recent setbacks and a slowdown in decarbonisation efforts risk undermining the country’s environmental goals.
France is falling behind on its climate promises as extreme weather claims lives, hits food supply chains and strains public budgets, the country’s top climate advisory council warned on Thursday.
In its annual report, the High Council for the Climate (HCC) painted a bleak picture of France's fight to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Political instability and stop-start funding are holding back the changes needed to adapt to a fast-warming world, it said.
France’s climate plan has “stalled” this year, the HCC added, blaming a lack of clear leadership and poor coordination between government ministries.
“Is there still a pilot on this plane while the turbulence is getting worse?” the report asked. The HCC, created in 2018, was renewed for five years last year.
It comprises 12 independent experts and is chaired by Jean-François Soussana, an agronomist and the vice-president of France’s national research institute for agriculture and the environment.
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France warming faster than average
The council’s seventh annual report landed during a heatwave that has swept across France and the rest of Europe – the fastest-warming continent. It shows the country is not on track to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, and that it is heating up faster than the global average.
Over the last 10 years, mainland France has warmed by 2.2°C. If the global average rises by 1.5°C, on the current trajectory that will means a rise of around 2°C for France.
If the world reaches 2°C, France could see 2.7°C, and a global rise of 3°C would mean a 4°C rise in France, the HCC said.
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It warned that the occurrence of heatwaves could triple in the next five years, and become five times more common by 2050 compared with the late 20th century.
Pointing to the consequences of rising temperatures, the report said: "In recent years, impacts have reached levels never seen before."
In 2024, heat caused more than 3,700 deaths during the summer in France. Cereal harvests fell to their lowest in 40 years. The cost of floods last winter reached €615 million.
Cuts in emissions too slow
Although France did meet its second carbon budget, from 2019 to 2023, progress has declined sharply since then. France’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 6.7 percent between 2022 and 2023, but only dropped 1.8 percent between 2023 and 2024.
Next year’s drop is likely to be just 1.3 percent – a figure which needs to be doubled to reach the 2030 target.
The building sector, which contributes 15 percent of emissions, needs to cut emissions nine times faster than it currently does. But sales of gas boilers rose by 15 percent this year, while sales of heat pumps have fallen by 40 percent.
The waste sector has increased its emissions, and must cut them by a factor of 29.
The HCC also said that only one third of emissions cuts came from climate policies this year, with the rest due to temporary factors such as increased nuclear energy, fewer cattle, a mild winter and good rainfall which benefited hydropower.
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Policy rollbacks
“The strengthening of existing policies would help restart the drop in emissions,” the HCC wrote. But this will need “strong political support” and steady funding, both of which were lacking last year.
The council listed a series of rollbacks: social leasing for electric cars was paused, support for home insulation was cut, low-emission zones were scrapped and rules to protect soil from construction were weakened.
Agriculture too remains a sticking point. The HCC said the French government’s response to farmers’ protests at the start of the year had weakened efforts to cut farm emissions.
“The political response to the farmers’ protests has slowed the sector’s agro-ecological transition,” the report said, adding that new laws risk locking agriculture into high-emission models instead of shifting to greener, more sustainable methods.
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Key plans delayed
In addition, France’s climate plans are behind schedule. The third National Adaptation Plan came out in March but the new Low Carbon Strategy will not be ready before the end of this year, while the new energy plan is expected by the end of summer.
“Without these, France risks missing its 2030 and 2050 targets,” the HCC warned. Diane Strauss, a member of the council and an expert on transport and energy, said: "Government uncertainty weighs on the survival of public policies."
France’s main planning office for climate action, the SGPE, lost its head in February. Antoine Pellion, who had led the office since it was set up in 2022, resigned over cuts to green policies and lack of political support.
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Public trust at risk
The Climate Action Network, which brings together 40 environmental groups, released its own list of “more than 43 environmental rollbacks” by the government or parliament over the last six months.
It added a 44th when President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to revisit the EU’s goal to cut emissions by 90 percent by 2040. “Where is the compass of the French government?” the group asked.
Soussana warned that climate policies must benefit everyone to maintain public support, as climate change worsens social divides.
“There is a temptation to polarise the debate on climate and ecology, which could threaten targets and budgets," he said. "Some people feel policies have not helped everyone equally, so there is some support for tearing them down. But all French people suffer during heatwaves, so we need policies that help everyone."
