French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Thursday committed to removing all wind turbines in her bid to end all subsidies for renewable energy if she gets elected after next year's elections.
The female lawmaker is the candidate representing the Rassemblement National party in the April vote. In the 2017 election, she made it to the second round and is expected to do the same in the upcoming elections next year. However, recent polls have shown that right-wing talk-show star Eric Zemmour could beat her if she decides to run.
France's Presidential Candidate
In an interview, Le Pen said that wind and solar energies were not renewable and were intermittent. She promised that if she was elected next year, she would work on stopping all construction of new wind parks and will dismantle the ones that are already built under a project.
Le Pen added that she would throw away the subsidies for wind and solar which cost the country up to six or seven billion euros annually. However, environment minister Barbara Pompili on Twitter dismissed the lawmaker's statement. She said that the dismantling of the country's wind turbines would remove at least 8% of the country's electricity production, Yahoo News reported.
The far-right presidential candidate also showed her support for the country's nuclear industry by allowing the construction of several new reactors. She also authorized the funding of a major upgrade of France's current fleet and supported the construction of small modular reactors that President Emmanuel Macron proposed.
This week, a 2030 roadmap for the French economy was presented and President Macron proposed billions of euros to be used as support for electric vehicles, the nuclear industry, and green hydrogen. However, the lawmaker made little mention of renewable energy in his address.
About 75% of France's power is produced from nuclear plants, which means that its electricity output has one of the lowest carbon emissions per capita of any developed country. Despite this, the region continues to lag behind Germany and other European countries when it comes to investments in wind and solar energy, Reuters reported.
Fighting Against Climate Change
The situation comes as a French court ordered the state to honor its commitments to fighting against climate change. The Paris administrative tribunal ruling ordered the French federal government to take all necessary actions to repair environmental damages and prevent additional carbon emission increases by the end of December 2022 at the latest.
In a statement, Greenpeace France director Jean-Francois Julliard said that the country's court system was now becoming an ally in the fight against climate change. It was ruled by the court that the government must respect its commitment to reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, comparing numbers it recorded in 1990. However, it did not impose any fines to enforce the ruling.
Environmental activists are one of those who are using the judicial system to force their governments to take immediate action against global warming. One of the lawyers for the NGOs, Aerie Alimi, said that the government's failure to take appropriate action against climate change by the end of 2022 could result in the court following up and imposing penalties, France24 reported.
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