France’s new government reaffirmed its plan to reduce carbon emissions and promote clean energy, even as it faced greater fiscal constraints and political challenges after the summer’s snap elections.
“We’re in a difficult budgetary situation,” Energy and Climate Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said in Paris on Monday as she launched a six-week public consultation over France’s 10-year energy plan and national strategy to fight global warming. Reducing emissions from cars, trucks and airlines “is probably one of the issues where the step is the steepest.”