France is one of several countries leading the fight against climate change.
The “One Planet Summit”, a key climate change prevention event, took place in Paris on December 12, 2017, exactly two years to the day since the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The aims of this initiative of the United Nations and the World Bank are to secure and speed up essential funding, find innovative, shared solutions, and pursue global efforts to combat climate change by bringing together key figures in public and private finance.
Historic agreement signed
The 2015 Paris Conference on Climate Change (COP21) highlighted France’s fundamental role in the fight against climate change. The meeting resulted in the creation of an ambitious universal agreement, and proved to be a real success, bringing together leaders and committed citizens from around the world.
The agreement seeks to restrict average temperature increases to “well below two degrees above pre-industrial levels”. In order to achieve this, each country has committed to making voluntary efforts as part of a common strategy to reduce global warming (mitigation), while also protecting the most vulnerable countries from the impacts of climate change (adaptation).
Tackling climate change
The “Make Our Planet Great Again” initiative – spearheaded by France’s President, Emmanuel Macron – is an appeal to researchers, teachers, entrepreneurs, associations, NGOs, students and civil society as a whole to come together to help devise new, innovative, planet-saving climate change solutions in France.
Eighteen people, including seven women and eleven men, from six countries have already been selected to carry out research projects in France. The majority (13) are from the United States, with the other countries represented including Canada, Italy, Spain, India and Poland.Could France, which is firmly committed to tackling environmental issues, become the leading country in the fight against climate change? In any case, the initiatives it has undertaken so far have been warmly welcomed by countries around the world.
Business France’s commitment to the environment
Business France is also doing its bit for the planet, starting with a partnership with the New York Times to promote France’s prowess in the environment sector.
Business France has also partnered with Parisian startup accelerator NUMA, which held a “Tech for Planet” event in December 2017 at Station F, the world’s largest startup campus in eastern Paris. More than 700 entrepreneurs and innovation leaders committed to tackling climate change attended the event, where they discussed existing clean and green technologies.
Read more in Business France’s series of kits which examine the various key strengths of the French environment sector and the country’s commitment to tackling climate change.