Emmanuel Macron has promised an extra €15bn (£13.7bn) for measures to combat the climate crisis over the next two years and a referendum on whether to introduce the crime of “ecocide” for harming the environment. The measures were announced just hours after environmental candidates sparked a green wave across France with major gains in local elections in which the president’s governing party failed to make its mark.
Macron said he hoped to implement the measures immediately and a new law would be drawn up before the end of summer. He congratulated the commission for having “made the choice of putting ecology at the heart of our economic model”, but rejected its suggestion for a “dividend tax” on investments and postponed a debate on whether to introduce a 110km/h speed limit on French roads.
“The message sent by the municipal elections is clear: ecology and the climate crisis are no longer only a distant preoccupation for French people, but a political priority that must result in acts, concrete measures and a general goal in keeping with the Paris climate accord. The Citizen’s Commission has said the same thing and it will need more than a lovely speech from the Elysée to satisfy the deep expectations,” said Jean-François Julliard, the director general of Greenpeace France. Clément Sénéchal, responsible for Greenpeace France’s climate campaign, said the government could make its actions match the president’s words by making state aid for coronavirus-hit businesses, including carmakers and airlines, dependent on their willingness to introduce “social and environmental measures”.
Source: Guardian
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