French set out eco agenda
France will this week announce a series of sweeping green policies aimed at making the country an environmental pioneer.
The measures to be revealed on Thursday are the result of three months of tricky talks between activists, farmers, businesses and government officials.
They made no progress on nuclear energy, which President Nicolas Sarkozy champions and environmental groups reject, or on biofuels, the junior minister for ecology, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said today.
But she insisted the final ideas which will emerge from a conference on Wednesday and Thursday were a crucial first step.
“We want to see what we can do ourselves, with the idea to be exemplary, to be pioneers,” she said.
“We think that there are new markets, a new economy” to be tapped in making the French more environmentally conscious, she added.
Ideas emerging include stickers on food packaging indicating how much carbon dioxide was emitted in making the product; lowering speed limits on roads throughout France to encourage fuel efficiency; charging households per kilo of garbage they produce; charging money to drive in big cities; requiring environmentally “clean” cafeteria food; and refitting historic mansions to make them more energy efficient.
Yet environmental groups fear the measures will be too weak to make a difference in France’s carbon emissions.
Greenpeace International director Gerd Liepold said: “There’s nothing groundbreaking in this.
“What is happening in France is what happened in other European countries 10, 15 years ago.”
France depends more on nuclear energy than any other nation and falls behind several European neighbours in recycling, energy conservation and cleaning up agriculture.
France was later than other developed nations in banning use of asbestos, and concerns are mounting lately about the long-term health risks.
Genetically modified crops are another sensitive topic in this country that values its agriculture. The conference may produce a temporary freeze on GM crops but activists say that is not enough.
