France on Saturday made good on its promise to invite foreign climate change experts to the country, pledging 30 million euros to fund the work of up to 50 researchers, reports Public Radio International.
The move comes two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron criticised his US counterpart Donald Trump for pulling out of the UN's Paris climate agreement — calling on US climate scientists and entrepreneurs to "come and work in France on concrete solutions for climate."
Newly-elected Macron further needled Trump when he adapted the latter's nationalist slogan used by Trump on his election campaign trail by urging defenders of the climate to "make our planet great again."
On Saturday, the French environment ministry said in a statement that Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal and investment commissioner Louis Schweitzer "have decided to set up a priority research programme for the fight against climate change."
The government will fund the initiative with 30 million euros ($34 million) of public money to match what it hopes will be another 30 million from universities and other organisations, making the total funding up to 60 million euros.
This would fund 50 researchers over five years, said the statement.