![Depuis le quai de Grenelle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Depuis_le_pont_de_Grenelle.jpg)
The Grenelle de l'environnement was an open multi-party debate that took place in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in the summer and fall of 2007 to define key points of public policy on
environmental
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
and
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
over the following five-year period. Bringing together representatives of national and local government and organizations (industry, labour, professional associations,
non-governmental organizations
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
) on an equal footing, the "Grenelle Environment Round Table" (as it might be called in English) was instigated by then-French President
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
.
Officially launched on 6 July 2007, the Grenelle de l'environnement brought together the government, local authorities,
trade unions
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...
, business and volunteer sectors to draw up a plan of action of concrete measures to tackle
environmental issues
Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...
. The "
Grenelle
Grenelle () is a neighbourhood in southwestern Paris, France. It is a part of the 15th arrondissement of the city.
There is currently a Boulevard de Grenelle which runs along the North delimitation of the ''quartier'', and a Rue de Grenelle, ...
" name came from the first conference to have brought all these players together, the
May 1968 labor conference, which took place in the Rue de Grenelle.
Six working groups, composed of representatives of the central government, local governments, employer organizations and trade unions and NGOs, first gathered to debate the topics of
climate change and energy
In the 21st century, the earth's climate and its energy policy interact and their relationship is studied and governed by a variety of national and international institutions.
The relationships between energy-resource depletion, climate change, ...
,
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
and
natural resources
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...
, health and the
environment
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
, production and consumption of
ecological democracy
Takis Fotopoulos ( el, Τάκης Φωτόπουλος born 14 October 1940) is a Greek political philosopher, economist and writer who founded the Inclusive Democracy movement, aiming at a synthesis of classical democracy with libertarian sociali ...
, development patterns and environmental employment and competitiveness. Two groups devoted to
Genetically Modified Organisms
A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...
(GMOs) and
waste management
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...
were also established. All submitted their proposals on 27 September 2007. After a public debate in the first half of October, these proposals led to 20 measures on 25 October.
Measures
The Grenelle working groups set ambitious goals in numerous areas:
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
and
natural resources
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...
,
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, relations between the
environment
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
and public health, modes of production and consumption, issues of "environmental governance" and "ecological democracy", the promotion of sustainable patterns of development favorable to competitiveness and employment, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), waste management.
![TGV passes through Haute-Picardie Station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/TGV_passes_through_Haute-Picardie_Station.jpg)
The main commitments were:
*Building and housing: generalization of standards of low consumption in new housing and public building, plus setting up incentives for the renovation of housing and building heating.
*Transportation: construction by 2012 of 2000 km of high-speed railways, creating a tax system favoring the least polluting vehicles, establishing an environmental tax levied on trucks on the roads, various urban transport projects including light rail.
*Energy: development of
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
to reach 20% of total energy consumption by 2020, a ban on
incandescent light bulbs
An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxidat ...
by 2010, a planned tax based on the energy consumption of goods and services ("
carbon tax
A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...
").
*Health: banning sales of building materials and plant protection products containing possibly dangerous substances, mandatory reporting of the presence of nanomaterials in products for general public, establishment of a plan on air quality.
*Agriculture: tripling of the share of organic farming which is expected to reach 6% of total agricultural land by 2010, halving the use of pesticides, adopting a law to regulate the coexistence between genetically modified and other cultures.
*Biodiversity: creation of a "green grid" linking natural areas, to enable flora and fauna to live and travel throughout the territory, giving priority to new urban developments.
Implementation
To realize these commitments, thirty-three operational sites were launched in December 2007 to determine the proposals for action for implementing the conclusions of the Grenelle.
They were to deliver their first plans in March 2008, for inclusion in the environment bill debated by in spring 2008. However, the debate on the bill for the implementation of the Grenelle Environment was postponed several times, finally was begun in October, and was adopted by the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
on 21 October 2008 and then sent to the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
.
This text, known as "First Grenelle Act", sets the general policy and describes the choices made while not specifying their practical implementation or funding. It simply reflects the legislative commitments made in October 2007. This first bill focuses on climate and seeks to divide, by four, all
emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. The industrial sectors most affected are construction and transport, which together account for 40% of total emissions. The bill includes construction of 1,500 km of
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
, and the rehabilitation of 800,000 housing units to halve their
energy consumption
Energy consumption is the amount of energy used.
Biology
In the body, energy consumption is part of energy homeostasis. It derived from food energy. Energy consumption in the body is a product of the basal metabolic rate and the physical activity ...
by 2020. Other provisions are related to energy (promotion of
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
), products incorporating
nanomaterial
*
Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale).
Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to nan ...
s, agriculture (increase in the share of organic agriculture to 20% by 2020, halving the amount of
pesticide
Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...
s).
The only measure actually implemented in 2008 was the bonus-malus system on new vehicles, establishing penalties for purchasers of the most polluting vehicles and instead introducing a bonus for the least polluting cars. This measure was introduced by decree for the bonus (decree of 26 December 2007) and an amendment to the 2007 Rectificative Finance Act (which allows to change during the year the initial Finance Act) for the penalty (malus). Already implemented, the system has actually shifted consumption to cleaner vehicles.
Among the measures already taken, the law of 25 June 2008 on genetically modified organisms aimed to implement several provisions of the Grenelle, although some environmental organizations challenged some of its provisions.
Funding
The funding and the detailed rules for the implementation of the provisions of the first Grenelle act were specified in the
Finance Act
A Finance Act is the headline fiscal (budgetary) legislation enacted by the UK Parliament, containing multiple provisions as to taxes, duties, exemptions and reliefs at least once per year, and in particular setting out the principal tax rates f ...
(law which determines, for a year, the nature, the amount and the allocation of resources and expenditure of the government), adopted in December 2008. The funding was also to be specified in a so-called "Grenelle 2" in 2009 or 2010. At the end of 2008, there were growing concerns about the funding of the Grenelle, due to the
economic crisis
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the p ...
. The total cost of the bill "Grenelle 1" has been estimated at around 120 billion euros, representing an annual average of 12 billion euros investment (0,6% of
GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is often ...
).
The establishment of a "climate energy contribution" or "
carbon tax
A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...
" (product tax based on the environmental damage they cause) was to bring in nearly 9.7 billion euros a year, according to a study by the
ADEME (French Agency for Environment and Energy Management). But the measure has not been included in any bill yet, and even though the Government announced its future implementation, it did not set any timetable. Another funding source was to come from a tax on
heavy vehicles to be levied from 2011, but its level and its base were not determined. Investments in
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
should also generate additional revenue (for example, 75% of expenditures to rehabilitate public buildings would be financed by the savings on reduced consumption). Savings in other sectors were also to play a part.
See also
*
Charter for the Environment
The Charter for the Environment (french: Charte de l'environnement) is a constitutional law of France approved in 2005, forming part of the constitutional block (France), constitutional block () of French law having the same force as the Constituti ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official websiteMinistry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning(French)
by Le Monde (in French only)
Presentation on the government portalOfficial website of the Sustainable Building Alliance
Environment of France
Urban planning in France