“We have to face the reality of this climate change, and in a lucid way”, considers the environmental senator and vice-president of the specialized commission of the CNTE Ronan Dantec. According to the National Council for Ecological Transition – which brings together representatives of local authorities, NGOs, unions, employers and parliamentarians – France must prepare for global warming of up to +4°C in mainland France.
It “proposes to retain, for the trajectory of adaptation to climate change, the general hypothesis of a global warming of 3°C by the end of the century, crossing 1.5°C in 2030 and 2°C in 2050”. “We are on a trajectory towards 3°C at the global level and therefore for metropolitan France that means +4°C”, specified Ronan Dantec, stressing that the opinion had been adopted “unanimously”.
A more marked warming in France
The warming is indeed more marked in metropolitan France compared to the world average. The situation will also vary in Overseas depending on the geographical location of the territories, underlined Ronan Dantec: “Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon will go beyond +4°C and other territories with the inertia of the ocean will be closer to +3°C, which is the global average”.
The opinion follows the recommendations of the Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, who has been calling for a few months to get out of “denial” and to prepare France for a possible warming of 4°C. “Not that that means we are giving up on climate ambitions. We must act as if everything depended on us but we must adapt by measuring that everything does not depend on us, ”he judged Thursday.
A plan in the making
France is preparing its third National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC). The previous version (2018-2022) was based on less pessimistic assumptions of an average temperature increase of 2°C compared to the pre-industrial era. This adaptation plan will have components concerning health, the economy and agriculture, the continuity of infrastructure and essential services, and the protection of natural environments.
The Minister also specified that he was going to present a “national heat wave management plan” before the end of May, with dozens of measures to, for example, provide a framework for outdoor working conditions or school exams in the event of of heat wave.