The French environment minister Nicolas Hulot resigned to show his disagreement with the government’s green policies.
Hulot announced the decision live on public radio without previously informing the government or colleagues. “I can no longer lie to myself,” he said on France Inter’s morning show.
“We are plodding to maintain an economic model that is causing all the climatic disorder. We are making small steps and France is making more of them than other countries – but are small steps enough, the answer is no,” he said.
The former TV star and environmental activist said it was the “most difficult decision of his life” and came after President Emmanuel Macron announced the annual price of hunting licenses would be cut in half.
Last year, Macron’s government went back on its decision to reduce the share of nuclear electricity generation to 50% by 2025 from its current level of more than 75%.
France is also lagging behind when it comes to renewable energy with clean power providing 19% of the country’s electricity. The country’s 23% target for 2020 is likely to be missed.
The first offshore wind farms off the French coast will not be up and running before 2022 or 2023.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
French environment minister quits
By EBS