Pave: Green Gassed

Le jour 147 de Sarko

En s'engageant, à l'initiative de la France et du Royaume-Uni, avec l'encouragement total de la Commission, à diviser par quatre ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre d'ici 2050, l'Union européenne montre la voie. ... Il faut construire une gouvernance mondiale de l'environnement.

[At the instigation of France and the United Kingdom, and with the wholehearted encouragement of the [EU] Commission, the European Union is showing the way by committing to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by a factor of four between now and 2050. ... We must build world environmental governance.]

Then-Jack, Now Ex-Jack,
inviting your awe and admiration of French puff,
"Citoyens de la terre" : Conférence internationale de Paris
pour une gouvernance écologique mondiale
PARIS 2 février 2007 (Élysée)

Always talking the talk. Can't walk the walk.

STUDY SAYS FRENCH C02 TARGET UNATTAINABLE

PARIS October 9, 2007 (AFP) - An official commission [ Commission « Energie » ] has concluded that France cannot meet its target of slashing carbon dioxide (C02) emissions by a factor of four by 2050, the business daily La Tribune reported Tuesday.

The report, to be published later this week,* says that "with the strongest determination in the world, France could cut its CO2 emissions by a factor of 2.1 by 2050, even by 2.4, but certainly not by four," the newspaper reported.

Yes, well, even in the good fight, even in the best of moods, the French are not renowned for the "strongest determination in the world".

In 2005, France set a target of cutting its emissions of C02, one of the main gases responsible for global warming [hardly an indisputable fact], by a factor of four by 2050. The report:

Taking account the needs for growth, it appears difficult to obtain (a reduction) of greater than a factor of two by 2050 unless there are technological breakthroughs which were not taken into account as they appear improbable.

"Needs for growth" is the ever so nice way of saying industrial pollution.

We note that France, in a law of her own sovereign making, supports a targeted reduction by a factor of four or five.

Titre I, Article 2: La France soutient la définition d'un objectif de division par deux des émissions mondiales de gaz à effet de serre d'ici à 2050, ce qui nécessite, compte tenu des différences de consommation entre pays, une division par quatre ou cinq de ces émissions pour les pays développés.

[France supports the definition of an objective of halving the world gas emissions from the greenhouse effect between now and 2050, which requires, taking into account the differences in consumption between countries, a factor of four or five for these emissions of developed countries.]

[Pause.] We are so unimpressed.

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* A report (in several parts) Perspectives énergétiques de la France à l’horizon 2020-2050, by the Commission « Energie » is already available. This report, dated September 25, 2007, concludes the very same thing as the Commission's latest soon to be published report.

PFFT (What is this?): Big talk, all squawk 4 | Rayonnement français 0