This Issue Brief analyses France’s Climate Plan from the perspective of biodiversity. It identifies several major opportunities for biodiversity through the focus of the energy efficiency plan, the initiative to end deforestation caused by French imports and the strengthening of environmental objectives in future trade agreements. At the same time, it also outlines two points of vigilance, namely the way the Climate Plan approaches the management of ecosystems in the service of climate change policies, and secondly the goal of simplifying procedures for renewable energy development.
KEY MESSAGES
- It is extremely important to find a way to successfully establish discussion between climate and biodiversity policies at the outset, as frictions and synergies between the two can appear during implementation. Our analysis of France’s Climate Plan suggests mobilization pathways for the “biodiversity community” with a view to boost synergies between these environmental policies and open constructive debate regarding potential points of friction.
- From a biodiversity perspective, the Climate Plan presents three major opportunities to build on: the importance given to energy efficiency, the fight against imported deforestation and the strengthening of environmental objectives in future trade agreements.
- However, the Climate Plan does include two potential sources of risk that need to be monitored. Firstly, the management of ecosystems, be it for adaptation or mitigation, must not entail negative impacts on biodiversity and should rather work to support agents of conservation. Secondly, the “simplification of procedure” for the installation of renewable energy should not hinder the capacity for biodiversity actors to mobilize; rather, methods of consultation with these actors should be modified in such a way as they may concretely provide their inputs and shape infrastructure projects.
- However, this requires the community of experts and actors involved in biodiversity preservation to launch a process of prioritization of the concerns posed by the installation of renewable energy. Such a process will be a prerequisite to any dialogue with those actors involved in implementing the energy transition.
