Climate transition: Emmanuel Macron calls for a renewed effort in the face of the co-opting of environmentalism by "extremists".

Meeting as an off-site Ecological Planning Council at the REuse Economy Expo in Paris Porte de Versailles, Emmanuel Macron The alarm was raised this Tuesday in front of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and about ten members of the government. The head of state denounced those who have turned the environmental transition into a political battleground, declaring that ecology is now "an easy target, especially for extremists" and "the stage for populist operations." He reaffirmed that all decisions made regarding climate change are based on scientific principles and that this guiding principle must remain unwavering.

The figures are nonetheless worrying. The pace of CO2 emission reductions slowed in 2024 and 2025, the president acknowledged, attributing this setback to a return to bad habits. "We need a wake-up call," he insisted, warning that this relaxation was increasing France's dependence on fossil fuels and jeopardizing long-standing objectives.

A target of 40% fossil fuels by 2030

To revitalize the national trajectory, Macron reiterated the ambition to reduce the share of fossil fuels in the French energy mix from 60% today to less than 40% by 2030. He quantified this effort in concrete economic terms: between 20 and 40 billion euros in annual savings on the trade balance, representing one to two percentage points of GDP. "We're not talking about something small, and it's entirely achievable," he insisted.

The roadmap presented outlines several priorities: accelerating the electrification of energy uses, developing the circular economy and recycling, supporting local authorities in their own transition, and combating climate misinformation. Implicitly, the president is sending a message to political parties that have made environmental abandonment an electoral argument, countering them with the dual legitimacy of science and the national economic interest.