French citizens' climate team judges government in final session

Meeting for the final time this weekend, France’s Citizens' Climate Convention will judge how well the government has responded to their recommendations on reining in the country’s emissions. 

Climate activists demonstrate in front of the Eiffel tower 10 Dec 2020, marking 5 years since the Paris Climate agreement was signed. REUTERS - BENOIT TESSIER

The 150-member committee, drawn at random as part of an experiment set up by President Emmanuel Macron in 2019, will hold their last exchanges by live-streamed video conference.

At the start of the initiative, Macron had promised to submit the citizens’ proposals "without filter" either to parliament, or by way of a referendum.

« La redevabilité et la #transparence sont centrales à tout exercice de #participationcitoyenne. Il était indispensable que ce travail ait une suite, celle du retour, de la transparence et de l’honnêteté ! » 👥🌍@PBernasconi ouvre cette première journée de travail en ligne 💻 pic.twitter.com/V88nByNFdQ

— Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat (@Conv_Citoyenne) February 26, 2021

A vote on the government’s response comes days before the much-criticised climate and resilience bill arrives in parliament for debate.

France has committed to reducing emissions by 40 percent by 2030, and the draft law – aimed at rolling out 146 proposals by the citizens – is how the government hopes to fulfil its promises.

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Over the weekend the committee members will review the six main topics on which they worked: housing, transport, food, consumption of natural resources, production and work. 

They will also discuss the lessons learned from their experience, which has been described as an unprecedented exercise in participatory democracy.

Failures

This week France's High Council on Climate, another review body set up by Macron, added to criticism of the government’s climate bill, which it said was "weak and insufficient".

The council warned France would fail to meet its Paris Agreement targets under the bill’s existing form.

Earlier this month a Paris court ruled that France had failed to take proper action to tackle the climate crisis, holding the state legally responsible for its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.