France ’s environment minister Nicolas Hulot has announced that the Republic is to grade a moratorium on new oil and natural gas pedal geographic expedition licenses , effectively banning the drill for the clock time being . This move asymmetrically mirror the actions of the current US government , which has justrestartedsuch explorative measures .
As cover byFrance24 , Hulot said that no new hydrocarbon will be sourced from French district as of this coming fall , when the law is overhaul . This does n’t mean , however , that current ongoing oil and gasoline drilling will barricade , which the minister argues will bring about costly effectual action from the muscularity industry .
He also declare that he would pursue taxation reform that would bring the low cost of diesel up to the cost of gas at the pump . For year , the cut rate of diesel means that driver have been opting for diesel - powered vehicle ; consequently , the air lineament in major metropolitan areas has dropped .
France is already a remarkably environmental body politic . Despite being one of the most populous and affluent , it has a proportionately downcast glasshouse throttle output principally thanks to its heavy investment in atomic power .
This latest announcement , although not as ambitious as some would hope , is a sign that the freshly installed government activity is n’t just walking the paseo when it comes to further environmental protection bill .
As America divides itself between state looking toupholdthe Paris agreement and a federal government that is subject tostick its fingers in its earsand shout as loudly as possible , the rest of the world is forging towards a low - carbon futurity . China and the European Union in particular haveagreedto work closely together on this effect , and France is emerging as a leading brightness in this accord .
The previous Gallic government already vow to exclude down all of its coal plantsby the mid-2020s , but now Emmanuel Macron occupies the Élysée Palace , and he ’s going all out to protect the satellite .
So far , he ’s appointed a spectacular environmental militant as the state ’s environmental government minister and offeredfour - year research grantsfor American clime scientists that are seeking an hejira from their beleaguered commonwealth , all while ask the world to “ make our planet great again ” – see what he did there ?
This latest move does n’t come as any sort of surprisal , but it ’s enormously welcome nonetheless . With a sweeping and unshakable bulk in the French Parliament , the Macron administration has plenty of chance to easily push through sweeping reforms on the surroundings .
Let ’s hope they do . After all , the more that France – and the EU as a whole – can act as a climate counterbalance to the US , the better off the man will be .
