It's probably not the Christmas present the French Green Transition Ministry was expecting. The decline in French greenhouse gas emissions is slowing. They fell by 2.4% over the first three quarters of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023, excluding carbon sinks. This reduction is considerably less than that recorded (-6%) in the first nine months of 2023 compared with 2022. More specifically, carbon emissions were reduced in the first two quarters of 2024 (-5% and -2.2% respectively) but rose slightly in the third quarter (+0.5%), according to provisional data published by the Technical Interprofessional Center for the Study of Atmospheric Pollution on Friday, December 27.

Meeting France's climate targets implies doubling the pace, since the aim is to reduce emissions by an average of 4.7% per year between 2022 and 2030. By 2023, they had fallen by 5.8% compared to 2022, with all major emitting sectors down – a good result.

"This slowdown, fortunately, still leaves us on the right trajectory. Given the efforts we've made over the past two years, we're not falling behind," said Environment Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher on radio station RTL on December 27. "But this reminds us that we must not let our guard down."

You have 81.56% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.