.svg)
🔎 Things to remember
On Tuesday, July 20, 2021 the French National Assembly voted 233 to 35 in favor of the "Climate and Resilience" bill. But what are the steps that led to this project, and what really makes up this law?
What steps led to the Climate and Resilience Act?
This bill is the most important ecological measure of this presidential quinquennium, and the fruit of several years' work. In order to understand the events that influenced the drafting of this text, we suggest that you go back in time to take stock of this chronology.
The Paris Agreements (November 4, 2016)
On November 4, 2016, the Paris climate agreements came into force. These agreements aim to keep global warming below 2°C and tackle the consequences of climate change. The agreement was signed by 196 parties, who committed to updating their country's greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy every 5 years. France and all the countries of the European Union are signatories to this treaty.
The European Union had initially set itself the target of reducing its carbon emissions by at least 40% by 2030, but in 2020 it revised its ambitions upwards to aim for a reduction of at least 55% over the same period.
France has set itself a target of a 40% reduction by 2030.
The Paris agreements encourage signatories to assume their responsibilities in the fight against global warming and oblige them to set targets for reducing carbon emissions, but do not determine the actions to be taken.
In order to draw up a national action plan, France called on its citizens to reflect on the subject by organizing the Citizens' Climate Convention.
The Citizens' Climate Convention (CCC) (October 2019–June 2020)
The Citizens' Climate Convention brought together 150 citizens over 6 weekends, from October 2019 to June 2020, to work on global warming. This work led to the drafting of 149 proposals designed to achieve France's objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
These proposals are organized into five main themes: consumption, production and work, mobility, housing and food. They were then studied by the government, with a view to drafting a bill: the Climate and Resilience Act.
The Climate and Resilience Bill (February 12, 2021)
Nine months after the CCC proposals were tabled, a draft law, called Climat et Résilience, was presented to the Council of Ministers. It is based on some of the proposals put forward at the convention, 46 to be exact. The bill aims to :
- Change our eating and drinking habits,
- Changing production and work models,
- Rethinking transport and travel,
- Take action on housing and land use,
- Implement sanctions to limit environmental damage,
Opinion of the High Council for Climate (HCC) (February 23, 2021)
Following this bill, the French High Council for the Climate (Haut Conseil pour le Climat) expressed its opinion that it was not sufficient, and that the text should "better integrate the measures adopted into the broader approach of the decarbonization strategy" (1).
This opinion set the whole of the French population on fire, including citizens, associations and political parties, particularly environmentalists.
Protest for “a real climate law” (March 28, 2021)
On Sunday, March 28, 2021, some 110,000 demonstrators took to the streets of French cities to call for a "real Climate Law". A law that would be in line with the objectives set by the Paris agreements, to keep global warming below 2°C.
Adoption of the bill by the Senate (June 28, 2021)
After two weeks of scrutiny, the Climate and Resilience Act has been passed by the Senate, albeit with some modifications. In general terms, the Senate rewrote the text of the law to make it less restrictive, and to extend deadlines to enable the various stakeholders to carry out the work required to comply with the new regulations.
Nevertheless, the theme of transport and mobility has been modified in favor of the climate, thanks in particular to the reduction in VAT on train tickets from 10 to 5.5%.
The bill must then be voted on again by the French National Assembly, 1 month later, on July 20, 2021.
The Council of State Rules Against the State (July 1, 2021)
In January 2019, the town of Grande-Synthe appealed to the Conseil d'État (French Council of State) because it felt that it was particularly exposed to climate change and that the State was not acting sufficiently to mitigate these risks. In a landmark decision, the Conseil d'Etat ordered the State to pay the town 5,000 euros. This sanction, more symbolic than punitive, marks the beginning of "climate trials".
On July 1, the Conseil d'État asked the government to "take all necessary measures to curb the curve of greenhouse gas emissions". The Council of State has given the government nine months, until March 31, 2022, to put in place an action plan to achieve its objectives. As a reminder, France has set itself the target of reducing its emissions by 40% by 2030.
The National Assembly Vote (July 20, 2021)
Despite all the efforts made by various stakeholders to amend this bill, the National Assembly approved it on July 20, 2021, by a vote of 233 to 35. Comprising 69 articles, this bill will, according to Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili, “place ecology at the very heart of the French model in its most fundamental aspects—education, public services, and the justice system, as well as housing and urban planning, advertising, and transportation.”
For many, this law is not ambitious enough, given the scale of the work required to tackle global warming. But what will this new regulation mean for French people? Read on to find out.
What are the main measures in the Climate and Resilience Act?
The bill consists of 69 articles based on the CCC's themes of consumption, production and work, mobility, housing and food. The text is far less substantial than the CCC's proposals, which numbered 149.
The Climate and Resilience Act has been designed to complement other projects such as the Recovery Plan, regulatory reforms, etc.
Now let's talk in more detail about the articles and what they entail.
Topic 1: Consumption
By 2030, supermarkets of over 400 m2 will have to devote 20% of their floor space to the sale of bulk products. The aim of this article is to reduce the amount of plastic packaging and change French consumer habits.
The construction of new shopping centers will no longer be possible on natural or agricultural land, subject to certain conditions. This will limit the artificialization of land.
Theme 2: Production and Work
Employees now have a say in their company's environmental strategy. Ecology is becoming everyone's business, even within companies.
An environmental label will be required on the products and services we consume to inform us about the product’s impact on the environment, and in particular on the climate. Industries will therefore be required to analyze how they produce their goods and services. The goal is to encourage the decarbonization of industry.
Topic 3: Getting Around
As part of efforts to promote green transportation, the Climate and Resilience Act introduced several measures.
It is no longer possible to travel by plane for domestic trips if there is an alternative train route taking less than 2 hours and 30 minutes; this ban, which took effect in May 2023, primarily targets three routes departing from Paris-Orly (Nantes, Bordeaux, Lyon), with an exception for connecting flights.
In addition, carpool lanes have been implemented on several major roads to encourage carpooling.
As for Low-Emission Zones (LEZs), their implementation continues to expand in metropolitan areas with more than 150,000 residents in order to restrict access by the most polluting vehicles.
However, the ban on Crit'Air 3 vehicles—originally scheduled for 2025—has been relaxed and now applies strictly only in metropolitan areas that regularly exceed regulatory pollution thresholds (such as Paris and Lyon).
Finally, the law made financial incentives for purchasing electric cars permanent and accelerated the rollout of charging stations throughout the country.
Topic 4: Housing
The law includes a section dedicated to housing and the development of a sustainable housing stock. Poorly insulated homes are thus subject to strict regulations: the ban on renting out energy-inefficient homes classified as “G” took effect on January 1, 2025 (although the method for calculating the energy performance certificate has been refined for small units), while homes classified as “F” will be subject to the ban starting in 2028.
To support this transition, the national “Mon Accompagnateur Rénov’” network was launched to simplify energy-efficiency renovation projects in French buildings and make them more effective.
Topic 5: Nutrition
Vegetarian meals have become standard in school and university cafeterias. In fact, establishments that offer multiple menu options each day are now required to include a vegetarian option on their daily menu—a measure that took effect on January 1, 2023. As for cafeterias with a single-menu option, they have been required to permanently include at least one vegetarian meal per week on their menus.
Conclusion
These measures represent just a small extract from the text of the Climate and Resilience Act. There are also measures to educate and raise awareness of environmental issues among young people, zero-interest loans to encourage the purchase of cleaner vehicles, advertising reforms and the installation of solar panels.
Overall, this legislation represents a step forward for the environmental cause and for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but it falls short of what is needed to address current challenges. These measures will not be sufficient to meet France’s greenhouse gas reduction target of 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels), which is aligned with the European Union’s (EU) target set out in its “Fit for 55” plan.
Companies have a duty to play their part in reducing carbon emissions, both nationally and worldwide. The best way to take part in this collective effort is to carry out a carbon assessment of your organization, and then track changes in your emissions once you've drawn up a detailed action plan.
SaaS-based carbon footprint software, such as that offered by Tennaxia, allows companies to centralize and efficiently organize the carbon-related aspects of their CSR strategy.
--
Sources :
( 1 ) "Recommendations" included in the opinion on the climate and resilience bill issued by the French High Council for the Climate.
( 3 ) https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/loi-climat-resilience