France’s parliament has approved a law banning all exploration and production of oil and natural gas by 2040 within the country and its overseas territories.
Under that law that passed a final vote on Tuesday, existing drilling permits will not be renewed and no new exploration licenses will be granted.
The French government claims the ban is a world first. However, it is largely symbolic since oil and gas produced in France accounts for just 1 percent of domestic consumption. The rest is imported.
Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot says the law shows “current generations can take care of future generations.”
The ban is part of a larger plan to wean the French economy from fossil fuels and to fulfill France’s commitments under the Paris climate agreement to curb global warming.
(AP)
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2 Responses
Socialism on the rise. Switching away from fossil fuels, in France, will mean switching to electricity, which is 75% nuclear generated. And guess who owns the nuclear energy industry in France? The government–85% of it.
France doesn’t produce oil and gas. If Israel were to announce it was closing all its gold mines, it would have no significance since Israel doesn’t have any gold mines. Furthermore, since France imports all its oil and gas, replacing them with anything that doesn’t have to be imported would benefit France greatly.