In exactly one week, on Sunday 7 May, French voters will be called upon to choose the successor to François Hollande as President of the Republic. Vying for the Élysée will be centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen. The French press, radio and television have put their programmes under the microscope, reaching the conclusion — as the newspaper Libération noted — that "the great loser of the first round was ecology".
Back in February, Nicolas Hulot — president of the eponymous environmentalist foundation and "special envoy" of the government at COP21 in Paris — had already highlighted how for some candidates the issue appears decidedly secondary. "To put it in broad strokes," he explained, "on the right one senses a real indifference, if not outright aversion on certain issues." By contrast, "on the left, after years in which ecology was treated too superficially, a change is becoming apparent."

Marine Le Pen against "punitive ecology" and for a "patriotic environmentalism"

The reference was to the programmes of socialist candidate Benoît Hamon and of France Insoumise's Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had placed the fight against climate change and the ecological transition at the heart of their economic and social projects. "Yet the results of the first round," the French newspaper continues, "do not look at all promising for the environment. With Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, the environmental issue does not make it to the runoff."
Take the far-right candidate. In 2014, with the aim of not leaving the issue entirely in the hands of the left, Le Pen had founded a collective called Nouvelle Ecologie (New Ecology), based on the notion of "patriotic environmentalism." A nationalist take on the climate issue that appears decidedly unconvincing. The FN leader is, moreover, a wholehearted supporter of modernising the nuclear supply chain and even calls for a moratorium to block wind power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enMJbVPmK-A
Things do not improve when it comes to transport. While Le Pen supports the development of hydrogen engines, she is simultaneously opposed to the introduction of specific taxes targeting diesel: proposals the candidate has dismissed as "punitive ecology." As for biodiversity protection, the French ultra-conservative aims to entrust it to hunters. Finally, on the Paris Agreement, the far-right French leader has been more than clear: "It is a lame and unenforceable document."

Macron and the "extreme centre" strategy

And Macron? The centrist candidate appears to have embedded his environmental strategy entirely within his broader political positioning. "The defining characteristic of his campaign is that he has always sought to avoid taking a clear stance. It is what I call the extreme centre strategy," Thibaut Rioyfreyt, a researcher at the Faculty of Political Science in Lyon, told the newspaper Reporterre.

Despite his movement "En Marche!" having been backed during the campaign by some historic figures of French environmentalism, such as Daniel Cohn-Bendit, "the programme," the Parisian newspaper's analysis continues, "contains no genuinely innovative ideas on ecology, and his statements on the issue have been few, vague and often inconsistent. Almost everything being proposed already exists."

Coal, shale gas, nuclear: the proposals for France

One example above all: in order to "free France from fossil fuels," the former Minister of the Economy and Rothschild banker proposes closing the four coal-fired power stations still operating in France, halting the exploitation of shale gas (while keeping the door open to research, as well as on GMOs) and raising the cost for companies purchasing so-called "pollution rights." "But all of these are measures that are either already promised by Hollande in the past, or are even already enshrined in law," Libération notes. "Moreover, certain targets are set, but there is no concrete explanation of how they are to be achieved."

Even more disappointing is the announced policy on nuclear energy: ruling out any prospect of abandoning the atom along the lines of what has been decided, for instance, in Germany, Macron confirms the idea floated by Hollande of reducing, by 2025, the share of reactors in the French energy mix to 50 per cent (compared to the current 75 per cent). "But here too he does not specify how he intends to act in order to hit the target. According to the Cour des Comptes, it would be necessary to close the equivalent of 17 to 20 reactors out of the 58 currently in service, figures that rise to 27 to 31 according to Greenpeace's calculations. Meanwhile, the only commitment made is the closure of the ageing Fessenheim power station, in Alsace." And even in this last case there is nothing extraordinary, given that the shutdown has already been scheduled for some time — in 2019.

"On ecology, Emmanuel needs a little help"

On the subject of transport, Macron has also rejected the idea of phasing out diesel by 2025. He has promised only to align the taxation of diesel with that of petrol by 2022 — but once again, this too is a measure already planned by previous administrations.
It is no coincidence that Cohn-Bendit himself admitted during the election campaign: "On ecology, little Emmanuel needs a helping hand…" The choice on Sunday the 7th, in short, will be between a "patriotic" environmentalist and a candidate who needs help before he has even begun.