French environmental ideology has two fundamental roots: a devotion to intellectual innovation and a profound appreciation for the natural world. France has been the initiator or advocate of the creation of European environmental agencies beginning in 1948 with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. France was a driving force behind the Kyoto Protocol, galvanizing the 1997 conference and increasing the number of signatory nations. France has signed 130 European and worldwide agreements focused on the environment.

In February, 2005, France ratified the Charter for the Environment and added it to the preamble of the French constitution, thus assigning environmental rights and responsibilities an importance equal to that of civil liberties and economic and social rights. The charter's ten articles include assertions that declare individuals must participate in conservation, that promote sustainable development, and that ensure the public is educated about environmental concerns. Article 5 supports the controversial precautionary principle, which states that action may be taken regarding an environmental issue even if there is disagreement in the scientific community over the severity of the problem or the best way to address it.

In addition to the charter, in 2004 France instituted a climate plan more aggressive than the Kyoto Protocol, with the goal of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 54 million metric tons by 2010. This plan includes procedures to effect change at every level of French society, from large corporations to individual citizens. For both industry and consumers, those who choose lower emission technologies receive rebates, bonuses, or price reductions. Those who do not choose such technologies must pay additional fees or taxes or face punitive legal action. Examples include a measure to mitigate property taxes for energy-efficient buildings and an initiative to increase the use of biofuels. The French climate plan also includes funding for public education.

According to data reported to the Climate Change Secretariat of the United Nations, the total amount of CO2 emitted by France in 1990--the benchmark year to which levels were to be reduced--was 395.6 billion metric tons. Ten years later, the amount was 406.1 billion metric tons, an increase of 2.6 percent. In 2006, the amount was 408.7 billion metric tons, an increase from 1990 of 3.3 percent. However, all other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including those of methane and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), have decreased 19 percent from 1990 to 2006. Thus, from 1990 to 2006, total French GHG emissions decreased by 3.5 percent.

Even with this decrease, unless more stringent controls are implemented, France will miss its Kyoto Protocol target of an 8 percent decrease in 2012 from 1990 levels. The French reliance on nuclear power--the last coal mine in France was closed in 2004--has contributed to lowering the rate of increase of CO2 emissions, but the remaining increases, small as they are, are still troubling. One of the more difficult sectors to control is transportation, which is responsible for 26 percent of the increase in France's CO2 emissions. The secondlargest contributor to the increase is home heating, at 12 percent.

The French desire to show leadership in environmental concerns seems to clash with the nation's ambition to also be a technologically advanced society. This has led France to attempt to integrate policies that are pro-environment with those that encourage technological competition and innovation. The French people favor measures such as green belts within industrial areas and the highspeed train a grande vitesse (TGV), a train that provides low-emission, energy-efficient transportation. The French citizenry seems willing to tolerate taxes and fees on ecologically unfriendly consumer goods, although occasionally there is strong opposition, as there was to a so-called "picnic tax," a tax on disposable items such as plates and tableware. The government provides incentives as well as fees, including a rebate of as much as $7,000 on cars that are particularly fuel efficient.

Although it appears that France is making great strides in improving air quality, some issues remain troubling. GHG emissions increased late in the first decade of the twenty-first century, in spite of controls and fines, and a worldwide recession generated pressure on the government to repeal or mitigate some previously established limits on GHG emissions. France was particularly concerned that some countries that were under extreme economic pressures or burdened with Soviet-era industries and power plants might rebel against EU agreements on limiting emissions. In an attempt to keep international accords from disintegrating, France has softened its stance on upholding those limits, and in 2008 it used its occupancy of the presidency of the European Union to mediate among EU member nations when conflicts arose over emissions standards and related issues.

Biliography:

1) Bess, Michael. The Light-Green Society: Ecology and Technological Modernity in France. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.

2) International Energy Agency. Energy Security and Climate Policy: Assessing Interactions. Paris,  2007.

3) Prendiville, Brendan. Environmental Politics in France. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994.

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