Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a national “ecological plan” to reduce France’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55% and end the use of fossil fuels by 2030, reports The Guardian.
Speaking after a special ministerial council at the Elysée, the French president said an extra €10bn (£8.7bn) would be put towards the 50-point programme, which he described as “ecology à la Française”.
The plan was aimed at addressing the climate crisis while ensuring that France remained competitive in agriculture and industry, said Macron.
It was essential, he said, that “France reduces our dependence on so-called fossil fuels, coal, petrol and gas, which we don’t produce any more but on which we depend”. The aim, he added, was to reduce this dependence from 60% to 40% by 2030.
“The priority that we have set is that by January 2027 we will have totally ended the use of coal for our electricity production,” he said.
Other measures in the plan include the acceleration of electric car production, with brakes on gas boilers, though the president stopped short of a total ban.