Climate Change Action in France
France is seen as one of the countries that took an early lead when it comes to the green energy transition. The country’s 2019 Energy and Climate Act legislated their net-zero target for 2050, it also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 [1] (with reference to 1990 levels, which is a standard benchmark).
However, alongside this, they also have an adaptation plan to prepare for a scenario where temperatures have increased by 4 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels [2].
Figure 1: Marche pour le Climat 2019. [5]
Adaptation Plan
France’s plans largely focus on geographic risks to e.g. coastlines, forests and agriculture. They intend to protect various sectors, and are basing the proposals on a trajectory of heat increases, namely 2 degrees by 2030, 2.7 degrees by 2050 and 4 degrees by 2100. All of these increases are with reference to pre-industrial levels.
Actions are intended to protect people, ensure territorial resilience, maintenance of essential services, adapting human activity, protecting heritage and mobilising national resources.
The plans also consider the requirement for affordance insurance in high-risk areas, an issue that is becoming ever more concerning, having already affected people in the United States over the last few years [3] with similar concerns arising in Europe [4] and elsewhere.
Messaging
On the one hand, many would likely see such an adaptation plan as a responsible step for a government to take in order to protect its population.
More cynically, some may see it as a lack of faith in the commitments to tackle climate change in the first place. To that end, the French minister of ecological transitions, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, was clear to say “adapting is not giving up”.
The extent to which these measures are required, and transpire to be effective, remains to be seen, however it seems likely that populations will increasingly demand such measures from their leaders.
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References
[1] IEA (undated), France (link), IEA, last accessed April 2025.
[2] Euronews Green (2025), ‘Adapting is not giving up’: How France is preparing for 4C of heating by 2100 (link), Euronews, last accessed April 2025.
[3] Picchi, A (2023), Homes in parts of the U.S. are “essentially uninsurable” due to rising climate change risks (link), last accessed April 2025.
[4] European Central Bank (undated), The climate insurance protection gap (link), ECB, last accessed April 2023.
[5] Jean-Baptiste D (May 2023) from Unsplash.com. Last accessed on 7th April 2025. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-crowd-of-people-standing-around-a-statue-lsG8FnXAy1w
