“The ecological transition is not started in France”: severe observation of environmental authority

The college of independent experts believes that most of the planning projects and public programs examined in 2021 do not take into account the impact on climate or biodiversity.

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At the end of one year 2021 exceptionally responsible for the environmental authority (AE), its president, Philippe Ledenvic, draws a categorical conclusion of the 159 opinions rendered by the body: “The ecological transition is not Begun in France. “Philippe Ledenvic also notes” concern about environmental democracy “, and expresses” for the first time a concern concerning the means “of the environmental authority, a body backed by the General Council of the Environment and Sustainable development and composed of a college of experts, which made public its Annual report , Thursday May 5.

These are responsible, not to authorize or prohibit public policies involving the Ministry of Ecology and major development files – Road, Rail or Port Infrastructures, new districts, layouts of coastal paths , etc. -, but to provide them, independently, of argued opinions. However, whether these projects are private or public, taking into account the issues related to the decline of biodiversity and global warming appears very insufficient. However, “if we do not anticipate it, the planetary limits and the effects of their overtaking will impose implaingly”, writes the AE in the introduction.

The managers remain, according to the institution, confined to “breathless models”, which lead them to always present “the same programs, the same funding, the same projects” with irreversible consequences. “We have not observed a slowdown in motorway projects and we have examined two airport projects,” notes LeVendic.

additional file of files

The State has its share in this severe observation, for gaps in the policies it leads, but also for recent decides of French environment law “on the pretext of” simplifying “administrative processes”, denounces the report. Thus, since June 29, 2021, the AE has been forced to return its opinions in two months instead of three. When it comes to a high -speed train line that crosses a whole region, it’s short. Public information can only suffer, underlines Philippe Ledenvic.

In addition to 91 projects – 30 industrial projects including 10 nuclear files, 29 urban development projects and 28 transport infrastructure -, the AE had to look into 68 plans and public programs. This unusual additional file is explained by a series of compliance of French law with European directives. Experts had to analyze all -out policies, and not the least, such as the French strategy within the framework of the new common agricultural policy, the seventh action plan on nitrates – ineffective as its predecessors – or the second milling Ecophyto plan, which has failed, since 2008, to reduce the use of agricultural pesticides … These are, in the eyes of experts, “new occasions missed for France to support its farmers in the transition to agroecology, for agriculture significantly less polluting and more resilient in the face of climate change “.

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/Media reports.