Published

11 months ago

February 21, 2024

Alice Rush

At Cop28 last December, France’s former minister for the energy transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, announced she was “very happy” to support a Dutch initiative to remove subsidies for fossil fuels.

“Leading by example is obviously a key way to move forward and to show that the solutions are under our eyes,” she told a press conference, alongside ministers from Canada, Spain and other – mainly European – governments.

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.

And the political fallout of the decision could reverberate beyond France’s borders, Sussex University international relations professor Peter Newell told Climate Home.

“It 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,” he said.

The then French environment minister (second from left) posing for pictures after joining an initiative to end fossil fuel subsidies

The G20 group of big economies has been promising 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 in 2022, according to International Monetary Fund figures.

Bad example

Newell warned that France’s move “sends 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”.

It could spur on other groups to push back against similar reforms, he said. Farmers in Germany and Lithuania are also currently fighting plans to remove their fuel subsidies.

A team of researchers found that 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. 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.

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

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.

French farmers currently receive an annual €1.7-billion ($1.8-bn) taxpayer subsidy to make the diesel that runs their machinery cheaper.

The HCC analysis says that about a tenth of farm machinery’s carbon pollution can be stopped through driving in a way that uses less fuel and engine maintenance.

To reduce emissions further, it recommends tractors should be converted to biodiesel or electric engines “as soon as possible to avoid the risks of lock-in” given that many tractors bought today will still be in use as France gets close to its deadline of reaching net-zero emissions in 2050.

Just transition

Stéphane De Cara, director of research at the French agricultural research institute INRAE, sees the failure to address this “low-hanging fruit” as a clear signal that France is “not moving in the right direction” when it comes to emissions targets.

But, he said, if the fuel subsidy were to be scrapped, then the money saved should be channeled back to poorer farmers so that they can invest in greener technology.

Since Cop28, Pannier-Runacher has been appointed to France’s agriculture ministry and put in charge of ecological planning, energy issues and the production of biomass. She has vowed to devote all her energy to “farmers and food sovereignty”.

Ahead of European elections in May, farmers’ protests have been dominating headlines across Europe, pushing their grievances over foreign competition and falling incomes, coupled with rising costs, up the political agenda. Some farmers have targeted climate and nature policies at the national and European Union levels.

According to Newell, right-wing political parties are using the issue as a “lightning rod for broader social discontent” as part of a “weaponisation” of climate policy across Europe ahead of June’s EU elections.

Farming is the “new battle line in discussions around just transitions”, the researcher added.

The post Despite Cop28 pledge, France keeps fossil fuel subsidies for farmers appeared first on Climate Home News.

Despite Cop28 pledge, France keeps fossil fuel subsidies for farmers

Climate Change

After Trump’s pullback, Bloomberg promises to fill US funding gap to UN climate body

Published

8 hours ago

January 23, 2025

Alice Rush

American billionaire Michael Bloomberg has announced his philanthropy and other climate funders will step in to cover US financial obligations to the United Nations climate body after President Donald Trump ordered a halt to contributions.

As the world’s largest economy, the US should pay the largest dues for the functioning of the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) based on UN criteria. The US annual contributions typically cover 22% of the body’s core budget which is made up of contributions from its member states.

But the body risked a funding shortfall after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office saying US officials should “immediately cease or revoke” any financial commitment made under the UNFCCC. He also started the process of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement.

A few days later, Bloomberg said his namesake philanthropy and other unnamed funders would fill the gap left by the federal government and meet US obligations to the UNFCCC.

Cash injection

“From 2017 to 2020, during a period of federal inaction, cities, states, businesses, and the public rose to the challenge to uphold our nation’s commitments—and now, we are ready to do it again,” said Bloomberg, who is also the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on climate ambition and solutions.

Bloomberg Philanthropies had already stepped in with a cash injection to the UN climate body during Trump’s first term in the White House and kept contributing through the Biden presidency. It was also the biggest non-state funder of UNFCCC activities in 2024 with a $4.5 million payment.

The US had accumulated arrears during Trump’s first presidency that the Biden administration cleared with a $3.3 million one-off payment last year. US contributions to the UNFCCC totalled $13.3 million in 2024.

Japan and Germany were the other top financial supporters last year – with $14.8 million and $10.5 million respectively – with their voluntary contributions far exceeding required commitments. The UNFCCC is headquartered in the German city of Bonn.

Simon Stiell, UNFCCC executive secretary, welcomed Bloomberg’s support. “While government funding remains essential to our mission, contributions like this are vital in enabling the UN Climate Change secretariat to support countries in fulfilling their commitments under the Paris Agreement,” he said in a statement.

The UNFCCC’s mandate has expanded in recent years from helping with the running of the annual COP climate summits to organising an ever-growing number of negotiating sessions throughout the year and supporting the review of reports submitted by countries, among other things. Its budget has consequently ballooned to $165 million for the 2024-2025 period.

Trump orders US to quit Paris Agreement and pause all foreign climate finance

Stiell warned last year that the body would face “severe financial challenges”, putting its work at risk, unless countries plugged the funding gap. The shortfall forced the UNFCCC to cut back on certain activities last year, including cancelling regional climate weeks which usually take place in the Global South.

While funding for the UNFCCC’s work should continue, there has so far been no indication that anyone will step in to cover the much larger amounts the US government is supposed to contribute towards climate projects in developing countries. The US provided around $11 billion in international climate finance in 2024.

In December 2023, the Biden Administration promised to work with Congress to give $3 billion to the UN’s Green Climate Fund. This was never delivered and is now unlikely to be during the Trump presidency.

(Reporting by Matteo Civillini, editing by Joe Lo)

The post After Trump’s pullback, Bloomberg promises to fill US funding gap to UN climate body appeared first on Climate Home News.

After Trump’s pullback, Bloomberg promises to fill US funding gap to UN climate body

Climate Change

Making Sense of the Giant Fire that Could Set Back Energy Storage

Published

9 hours ago

January 23, 2025

Alice Rush

The blaze at Moss Landing in Monterey County, California, may have been worse because of the plant’s design and the types of batteries used.

By Dan Gearino

Days before President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office and took actions to stall the transition to clean energy, a disaster unfolded on the other side of the country that may have an outsize effect on the pace of the transition.

Making Sense of the Giant Fire that Could Set Back Energy Storage

Climate Change

Harsh Realities Confront Maryland and Its Bold Climate Plans

Published

10 hours ago

January 23, 2025

Alice Rush

Uncertain federal funding, staffing constraints and ambitious deadlines will test Maryland agencies’ abilities to turn their climate aspirations into tangible outcomes.

By Aman Azhar

Maryland state agencies have rolled out a suite of ambitious climate action plans for 2025, aiming to slash emissions and propel the state toward a clean energy future. But the road ahead is riddled with financial uncertainties and operational ambiguities.