France bans fracking and oil extraction in all of its territories

[DonViejo]

Source: The Guardian




French parliamentarians have passed a law banning fossil fuel extraction. President Macron says he wants France to lead the world with switch to renewables

Agence France-Presse
Wed 20 Dec ‘17 06.27 EST

France’s parliament has passed into law a ban on producing oil and gas by 2040, a largely symbolic gesture as the country is 99% dependent on hydrocarbon imports.

In Tuesday’s vote by show of hands, only the rightwing Republicans party opposed, while leftwing lawmakers abstained. No new permits will be granted to extract fossil fuels and no existing licences will be renewed beyond 2040, when all production in mainland France and its overseas territories will stop.

Socialist lawmaker Delphine Batho said she hoped the ban would be “contagious”, inspiring bigger producers to follow suit.

France extracts the equivalent of about 815,000 tonnes of oil per year – an amount produced in a few hours by Saudi Arabia.

Read more: https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/20/france-bans-fracking-and-oil-extraction-in-all-of-its-territories?__twitter_impression=true

[Nitram]

1. I hope this doesn't mean they'll fall back on coal as Germany has done.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. That's a fossil fuel too; and Macron said in an interview he wouldn't

“What did the Germans do when they shut all their nuclear in one go?,” Macron said.

“They developed a lot of renewables but they also massively reopened thermal and coal. They worsened their CO2 footprint, it wasn’t good for the planet. So I won’t do that.”

Macron said he wanted to boost the growth of renewable energy but would wait for the French nuclear watchdog’s opinion before shutting ageing nuclear reactors or upgrading others.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/france-to-bid-au-revoir-to-oil-and-gas-exploration-by-2040/

and:

https://www.actu-environnement.com/ae/news/fermeture-centrales-charbon-cordemais-reconversion-30308.php4

Google translation: "By the end of the five-year period, I will have closed down all the coal-fired power stations," declared the President of the Republic Sunday evening during his interview on France 2. He confirms the announcement of his minister of state Nicolas Hulot to close all coal-fired power plants by 2022. And, at the same time, the choice to push back the decline in the share of nuclear power from 75 to 50% by 2025."

[riversedge]

3. Good for France.