Environmental policy in France

There are new tendencies of developing renewable energy in France despite the existing importance of nuclear energy, said Laure Kaelble, director of the French-German coordination body for wind energy (Deutsch-französische Koordinierungsstelle für Windernergie) on the occasion of the DGAP’s third roundtable “France/German-French relations” in Berlin. These changes can be demonstrated by the will of French research institutes and companies to include renewable energy in their work. One could not speak of a “green revolution” in France, but a stronger focus on new energy forms, especially in the domain of Offshore-wind, can clearly be identified.

Michèle Pappalardo, General Commissioner for sustainable development of the French Department of the Environment, referred to the innovative and unique method in the history of French environmental policy, which finally led to the “Grenelle de l’Environnement”. For the first time, all significant representatives of civil society and public institutions had come together in five councils of social partners: among them syndicates, companies, non-governmental organizations, representatives and regional administrative bodies. Together they worked on the alignment of the French environmental policy. With the new legislation, France approached the European legislature on environmental policy.

The comparison of German and French environmental policy would result in a complementary picture of positives aspects in the policies of both countries, explained Guillaume Sainteny, advisor of the magazine “Environnement Magazine”. Thus, France is in advance in the domain of low-emission small- and medium-sized vehicles, in which its automobile industry is specialised in. In Germany, ecological agriculture plays a much more important part than in France as well as companies, which are specialised in the sector of renewable energies. Furthermore, the German fiscal system provides tax incentives for “green energy-forms” with the aim of accelerating the transition process towards renewable energies. On the contrary, France demonstrates a stronger preservation of its biodiversity.