Paris, July 2 The Council of State, France's top administrative court, has ordered President Emmanuel Macron's government to boost actions within nine months to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets.
The court on Thursday urged the government "to take all useful measures to bend the curve of greenhouse gas emissions...in order to ensure its compatibility with the objectives", reports Xinhua news agency
If by March 31 next year the council finds the government measures unsatisfactory, it could impose sanctions.
The court also noted that "the decrease in emissions in 2019 is low and that of 2020 is not significant because economic activity has been reduced by the health crisis".
In January 2019, Damien Careme, a member of France's Green Party and mayor of Grande-Synthe in northern France, filed a lawsuit against the government, accusing it of insufficient acts to tackle risks of the town's submersion if sea levels rise due to climate change.
The French government aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 and reach zero emissions by 2050.
Last week, the country's independent climate advisory council, High Council on Climate (HCC), said in a statement that "the urgency imposed by the climate crisis requires rapid and in-depth action".
"France's commitments are ambitious, but at the current rate, they are unlikely to be met. As long as action on climate change remains on the periphery of public policies, France will not achieve carbon neutrality by 2050," it said.
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