The level of CO2 and other pollutant emissions is the lowest ever reached in recent years, according to the quarterly report published on Thursday, September 26. Energy production is the first sector contributing to these good results.
In France, greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 3.6% during the entire first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest quarterly barometer from Citepa, the organization responsible for taking stock of CO2 and other pollutant emissions. This figure, made public on Thursday, September 26, confirms the one revealed in advance on Wednesday morning by the new Minister for Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher. “The level of emissions for the first half of 2024 is the lowest reached in recent years, in line with the reduction observed after 2021, below the 2020 level”notes Citepa.
A slower rate of decline in the second quarter
Citepa specifies, however, that emissions have fallen to “a lower rate in the second quarter than in the first”particularly due to a lower contribution from transport, industry and buildings. “Looking in detail, the decline is stronger in the first quarter (-4.9%) than in the second (-2.1%)”the organization specifies. In the first quarter, all major sectors had participated in the decline, led by energy production (-1.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent), buildings (-1.5 Mt), industry (-1 Mt) and transport (-0.9 Mt). In the second, “the situation is different”notes Cipeta. Energy production is certainly still the first sector contributing to the overall decline (-1 Mt), thanks to a shutdown of coal-fired power plants in addition to the increase in production of renewables and nuclear power. But the other sectors are reducing their emissions much less: transport and industry (-0.4 Mt each) and especially buildings (-0.1 Mt).
Last year, 385 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (Mt CO₂e) were emitted on French territory. A figure even lower than that measured during the exceptional situation of 2020 (392 Mt CO₂e) where the Covid crisis and a mild winter combined. 2023 was marked by reductions in “all major sectors” : energy (-14%), industry (-8%), construction (-6%) and transport (-2%). Which led Citepa to say in its annual report that the country should reach the gross objective of its second “carbon budget”, set for the years 2019-2023.
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