{"id":50025,"date":"2024-02-21T13:40:43","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T13:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=50025"},"modified":"2024-02-21T15:03:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T15:03:01","slug":"despite-cop28-pledge-france-keeps-fossil-fuel-subsidies-for-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2024\/02\/21\/despite-cop28-pledge-france-keeps-fossil-fuel-subsidies-for-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite Cop28 pledge, France keeps fossil fuel subsidies for farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Cop28 last December, France\u2019s former minister for the energy transition, Agn\u00e8s Pannier-Runacher, announced she was \u201cvery happy\u201d to support a Dutch initiative to remove subsidies for fossil fuels.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLeading by example is obviously a key way to move forward and to show that the solutions are under our eyes,\u201d <\/span>she told<\/span><\/a> a press conference, alongside ministers from Canada, Spain and other \u2013 mainly European \u2013 governments.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, just two months later, in efforts to placate protesting farmers, her government U-turned on plans to remove subsidies for the fossil fuels that power agricultural machinery like tractors.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the political fallout of the decision could reverberate beyond France\u2019s borders, Sussex University international relations professor Peter Newell told Climate Home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn’t send a good signal about these commitments if, at the first sign of trouble, richer countries relent for short-term, narrow electoral reasons,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The then French environment minister (second from left) posing for pictures after joining an initiative to end fossil fuel subsidies<\/p><\/div>\n

The G20 group of big economies has been promising<\/a> to phase out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies since 2009, but to little effect. Globally, explicit subsidies – undercharging for the supply costs of fossil fuels – more than doubled to $1.3 trillion<\/a> in 2022, according to International Monetary Fund figures.<\/p>\n

Bad example<\/h3>\n

Newell warned that France’s move \u201csends a signal that it’s okay to capitulate in the face of social pressure when it comes to difficult choices around fossil fuel subsidy reform\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It could spur on other groups to push back against similar reforms, he said. Farmers in Germany and Lithuania <\/span>are also currently fighting<\/span><\/a> plans to remove their fuel subsidies.<\/span><\/p>\n

A team of researchers <\/span>found that<\/span><\/a> between 2005 and 2018, 41 countries had at least one riot associated with popular demand for fuel. Their study concluded that the removal of subsidies had often led to social unrest. <\/span>In France in 2018, for example, the rising cost of driving sparked a wave of protests by the gilets jaunes (yellow vest) movement, leading to a rollback of fuel tax hikes.<\/p>\n

French farm machinery <\/span>produces about<\/span><\/a> ten million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, which is just over a tenth of France’s farming\u2019s emissions, according to a <\/span>recent analysis<\/span><\/a> by the French government\u2019s official climate advisers (HCC).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About half of French agricultural emissions come from cows releasing methane through burps. Just over a tenth is from fossil fuel-based fertilisers, with smaller amounts from pigs, sheep and other sources.<\/span><\/p>\n

French farmers currently receive an annual \u20ac1.7-billion ($1.8-bn) taxpayer subsidy to make the diesel that runs their machinery cheaper.<\/span><\/p>\n