France on Tuesday announced a “first of its kind” plan to phase out coal by 2030, oil by 2045 and gas by 2050 during a global conference aimed at breaking reliance on fossil fuels.
The “road map” was published as dozens of nations gather in Santa Marta, Colombia, for the first-ever international talks on how to transition away from fossil fuels.
France’s road map does not present new pledges, but brings climate and energy policies and targets under one umbrella with an explicit goal.
Photo: AFP
Analysts said no other country had published such a clear and comprehensive plan, and it sent an important signal at a moment when countries are reassessing their reliance on fossil fuels.
France’s envoy at the conference, Benoit Faraco, said the road map set deadlines for the end of fossil fuel use across the economy, the second-largest in Europe.
Coal would be phased out by 2030, oil by 2045 and gas by 2050 for energy purposes, the road map said.
“That’s quite original, because we are probably one of the rarest countries who have a clear deadline for all fossil fuel energy,” Faraco told reporters in Santa Marta.
France only generates a fraction of its electricity from hydrocarbons, thanks to its extensive nuclear power generation.
However, Faraco said the road map also committed to phasing out fossil fuel production, electrifying sectors such as heating and transport, and helping finance the transition in other countries.
It formalizes France’s targets for reducing greenhouse gas pollution — namely to reduce emissions by 5 percent a year over the 2024-to-2028 period with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
France’s cuts to greenhouse gas emissions slowed for a second straight year last year and remain well below what is needed to meet its climate goals.
Fossil fuel road maps differ to national pledges to reduce emissions or “net zero” plans because they have an explicit end goal, said Leo Roberts, an energy analyst at the E3G think tank.
The French road map “self describes itself as a document that sets out a pathway for a country to transition the whole economy away from fossil fuels,” Roberts told reporters in Santa Marta. “In that sense, it is the first of its kind.”
Faraco said that France decided to push ahead on its own after a proposal for a global fossil fuel road map was blocked at the COP30 climate summit in November last year.
Brazil, which was steering the climate negotiations, agreed to pursue a voluntary road map process instead and has asked willing countries to make submissions.
Frustration at COP30 led to the creation of the Santa Marta conference, which is taking place outside the UN process and is being cohosted by Colombia and the Netherlands.
Nearly 60 nations are attending.
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