PARIS, July 6 (Xinhua) -- French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot presented to the press here on Thursday the "Climate Plan" of the new government, a program which sets ambitious objectives to "accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement and adopt new objectives" to "make France the leader of the green economy."
At the press conference scheduled to present the new climate plan, Hulot first lamented the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change as "a regression," "a painful signal," and "a fairly violent message to those, the United States included, who suffer the consequences of a phenomenon which is often the result of a mode of development which is sometimes made at their expense."
"This Climate Plan is not an end in itself. It is a program which will structure itself on the five years of the government's term, a calendar, a spinal column," he said, adding that "It is a plan allowing France to take its role and maintains its leadership," a plan aiming to "accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement" and to "render it irreversible" and "revise our ambitions to a higher level" in setting the example, said the minister.
Hulot announced a "perennial energy plan" to begin by the end of 2018. "The finance bill to be unveiled in September will specify certain measures," he added.
The minister confirmed the announcement made by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, of the transformation of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) into the "Chamber of the Future" to "associate consumers and citizens with the oversight of the Climate Plan thanks to a panel of citizens."
The ecology minister also detailed a series of objectives: "to improve the day-to-day of the French, the day-to-day of their transportation, to accelerate the development of incentives for lower-pollution cars for the least well-off, to eradicate completely energy precariousness within 10 years, to fight against thermal losses..."
He insisted on the importance of "the circular economy which is at the heart of energy transition." "We much change the focus and the software. Each one of us will from now on see our competitive advantage," he added.
Hulot also called to "definitively put an end to fossil fuels."
"France decided to ban all new exploration permits and thus, exploitation of gas, oil... A law will be proposed to Parliament in early autumn," he announced.
The minister mentioned a goal of carbon neutrality on the horizon of 2050. A low carbon strategy will be published in 2018.
He also confirmed the convergence of tax laws on diesel fuel before the end of the government's term, and announced "the end of the sale of diesel cars by 2040."
"We want to make France the leader of the green economy," he said. "To reconcile the economy and ecology," "to support research and innovation," "to make Paris the capital of green finance," "to accelerate the development of renewable energy sources, the principal solution for the future," and other objectives were set out by the minister, while raising the question of agriculture and of support for developing countries.
"The energy revolution is a blessing for world peace," he said. "It will allow us to return fairness to the relationships of geopolitical force."
The financing of the Climate Plan was not presented during the press conference.
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