The result, published during a long, intense heatwave, was a concerning one: France's greenhouse gas emissions stayed nearly unchanged (+0.2%) over the first quarter of 2025, according to preliminary data from CITEPA (formerly the Interprofessional Technical Center for Studies on Air Pollution), published on Friday, July 4. For the first time, the nonprofit organization, which the government has tasked with calculating emissions, also provided an estimate of expected carbon emissions for the current year: they are projected to drop by only 0.8% in 2025.

If this figure were confirmed, it would be the smallest annual reduction since 2018 (excluding the post-Covid-19 comeback period), and a wholly inadequate decrease with regard to France's climate targets. France must reduce its emissions by 5% each year until the end of the current decade to meet the goal of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and to do its part in the fight against climate change. In other words, the current pace now needs to be multiplied by more than six.

2025 continued the marked trend of slowing emissions reductions that began last year: greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 1.8% in 2024 – compared to 6.8% in 2023 and 3.9% in 2022 – which led the High Council on Climate to call for a "collective awakening" in its annual report, published on Thursday.

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