France says protests no excuse to curb climate battle
katowice (poland) — France said on Monday at the UN climate talks it fears certain countries will exploit the “yellow vest” protests to curb their ambitions in the fight against global warming.
The “yellow vests”, clad in the luminous safety jackets carried by law in all French cars, began slowing or blocking traffic on roads around France last month in protest against anti-pollution fuel tax hikes.
The demonstrations have snowballed, leading to calls to topple French President Emmanuel Macron, accused of favouring the rich.
“It would be dangerous to blame the environment for this entire crisis. It’s a broader political, economic and social problem,” said Brune Poirson, French secretary of state for ecological transition.
She spoke to reporters on the margins of the UN climate talks in Katowice, Poland, adding that she was notably there “to help countries decode” the situation in France. “The ‘yellow vest’ movement is much broader and goes way beyond the single issue of ecological transition, so I believe one should not conflate things,” Poirson said.
“The risk is that other countries... will use what happened in France and reduce it to a question of ecological transition and a poorly received carbon tax in order to also curb their ambitions regarding the climate.”
Conceding the need to figure out a way to transition to clean energy “in the fairest way possible”, Poirson said “the end goal remains the same, namely to get over our oil dependence and speed up the ecological transition”.
It would be dangerous to blame the environment for this entire crisis. It’s a broader political, economic and social problem
Brune Poirson, French secretary of state for ecological transition