Climate action in France: Latest state of play

The EU's binding climate and energy legislation for 2030 requires Member States to adopt national energy and climate plans (NECPs) for the 2021-2030 period. In October 2020, the European Commission published an assessment for each NECP. France submitted its final NECP in April 2020. In 2019, France accounted for 459 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent (MtCO2e) in total emissions excluding land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) and including international aviation, generating 12 % of the EU-27 total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since 2005, the country has reduced its emissions at the same pace as the EU average. Over the 2005-2019 period, French emissions per inhabitant decreased faster than the EU average. The carbon intensity of the economy fell by 32 % and remained among the lowest in the EU while GDP increased by 17 %. In 2019, the transport, residential, tertiary and agriculture sectors accounted for around 60 % of France's total emissions. In order to reduce its energy dependency, France still maintains a high share of nuclear energy in its national energy mix. However, between 2005 and 2019, the share of energy from renewable sources rose steadily, reaching 17 % in 2019; this is still 16 percentage points (pp) below the 2030 national target of 33 % however. Energy efficiency, along with renewables, is a corner-stone of the French decarbonisation strategy, targeting in particular the buildings and transport sectors.