News

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy puts fight against global warming at top

Publish date: June 12, 2007

BRUSSELS – New French President Nicolas Sarkozy wasted no time in putting human rights and the fight against global warming at the top of his agenda.

Just 15 days after taking office on May 6th, he met with nine environmental groups to discuss global warming, genetically modified crops, and nuclear energy.

He has also announced that he is convening a conference of national and local policy-makers, business, labour and ecological groups to focus on ways of curbing global warming, preventing pollution related illnesses, and the protection of endangered species.

Sarkozy also promises to enforce liability against environmentally polluting businesses and their subsidiaries.

He has announced, though, that he will not make any decisions about controversial issues like genetically modified crops or nuclear power—the mainstay of France’s energy economy, with more than 70 percent of France’s electricity coming from nuclear power plants making it the most nuclear dependent country in the world—before the conference.

And despite his powerhouse entrance into the environmental fray, Greenpeace was only cautiously supportive: while saying the meeting was a great show of openness, they warned that several deep differences between Sarkozy and the environmental agenda remain.

More taxes, better environment?

Nonetheless, his actions are speaking loudly. He signed the Ecological Pact put forth by famous French television reporter and environmental activist Nicolas Hulot, and has committed himself to solving French environmental challenges within the next one or two generations.

To be sure, Sarkozy is a surprising bedfellow for the environmental movement, having ascended to the presidency from the position of finance minister. Yet his sense of economics may give him an edge.

Among other reforms he has promised as president, one includes a tax on carbon dioxide emissions on top of the already-existing domestic tax on petroleum products—by an increase to five percent of the GDP. He also wants to impose a tax on products imported from countries that are not signatories of the Kyoto Protocol—among them the Untied States—to stop the practice of environmental dumping.

To finance these initiatives, Sarkozy proposes proportionally reducing taxes on employment.

Levelling international playing fields

Unlike his more strident predecessors Jacques Chirac and former Dominique de Villepin—both known for their open friction with Washington—Sarkozy wants to coax the United States onto a more even dialogue, emphasising that cosier relations between the two countries will remove obstacles to a common goal of fighting global warming.

He, with the United Kingdom and Germany, in fact urges the United States to take the lead in the battle.

Sarkozy is, nonetheless, a supporter of nuclear energy as a clean energy source in the battle against climate change. He does, however, emphasize the importance of developing a renewable energy infrastructure.

Super ministry for the environment

A major change in the new administration is the creation of the Ministry for Sustainable Development. The ministry is led by conservative heavyweight, former Prime Minister Alain Juppé.

Juppé was convicted of mishandling of public funds in December 2004, but his political rebound came when he was elected Mayor of Bordeaux in 2006. With the Sarkozy administration, he seems to have emerged from his scandal-tarred past as Minister of Energy, Ecology and Sustainable Development, and analysts expect the new ministry to rock boats. Yet many remain suspicious.

A number of environmental officials and several NGOs fear that other agendas in the ministry will prevail over environmental priorities. Nathalie Kosciusco-Morizet, Sarkozy’s environmental advisor, has acknowledged these concerns, but she believes that the ministry will provide a progressive environment policy.

Sarko and his detractors…

Critics say Nicolas Sarkozy is posing as a unifier on subjects that do not normally appeal to him. They point out that his position might be a way to woo voters for the legislative elections in June, where Sarkozy needs his party to retain majority in order to pave the way for his ambitious reforms.

Despite the Sakozy’s openness thus far, Greenpeace and other groups criticise France for failing to enforce European Union (EU) rules aimed at preventing over fishing, protecting open spaces and regulating the production of genetically modified foods.

The Green Party, which was not invited to the May meeting with Sarkozy, argues that the cultivation of genetically modified crops remains a reality, nuclear energy is being developed without investment in alternative energy, and highways and incinerators are multiplying.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the May meeting was “little more than hot air.”

Maybe Nicolas Sarkozy is really going green, but his current green hat may be little more than a sign of his political ambitions for the legislative elections in June.
Time will show if a simple gesture will be enough to translate big promises into effective environmental policies.

More News

All news

6th meeting of the Carbon Removal Expert Group summary and feedback 

The Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) has been formally approved by the Council on the 19th of November 2024 and entered into force on the 9th of December 2024, providing an official mandate for the Commission to develop methodologies on carbon farming and carbon removals. However, the technical documents and specifications are still being drafted and revised for input from the Carbon Removals Expert Group (CREG), of which Bellona is a member. 

Photo: Christening of Northern Lights’ first CO₂ carrier in Stavanger in 2025, by Olav Øye

A great leap towards a scaled European market for CCS: Northern Lights expands storage capacity, will store CO₂ from Stockholm  

Europe’s only multi-source, injection-ready CO₂ storage site will more than triple its capacity by 2028. The decision follows an agreement with Stockholm Exergi to transport and store up to 800 – 900 kilotonnes of CO₂ per year. “This decision is years in the making, and the culmination of decades of hard work from many, Bellona included” says Bellona Europa Director Jonas Helseth.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get our latest news

Stay informed