France’s environmental policy is proactive and ambitious, as exemplified in 2015 by the passage of the Energy Transition for Green Growth Act and the adoption of the Paris Agreement by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21). The OECD has worked tirelessly to support this agreement and will continue to back international efforts to fight climate change. Against a domestic backdrop of low economic growth over the last decade, France has made progress in decoupling by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and the main atmospheric pollutants, curtailing freshwater abstraction and stabilising the generation of municipal waste. Nevertheless, intensive farming, urbanisation, land take and expanding transport infrastructure continue to have a negative impact on water and air pollution and on ecosystems. It is therefore vital to develop green activities to underpin growth while maintaining a focus on environmental protection and the sustainable management of natural resources.

The principal aim of the OECD’s Environmental Performance Review programme is to improve the individual and collective environmental performance of Member countries and partners by:

The following signs are used in Figures and Tables:

(2014 or latest available year)

France has set itself ambitious environmental objectives, especially in the 2009 and 2010 Grenelle legislation and the 2015 Energy Transition for Green Growth Act. At the international level, France was a driving force in the adoption of the Paris Agreement by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21). Against a domestic backdrop of low economic growth over the last decade, France has made progress in decoupling by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and main atmospheric pollutants, curtailing freshwater abstraction and stabilising the generation of municipal waste.

The Assessment and Recommendations present the main findings of the OECD Environmental Performance Review of France and identifies 33 recommendations to support the country’s further progress towards its environmental policy objectives and international commitments. The OECD Working Party on Environmental Performance reviewed and approved the Assessment and recommendations at its meeting on 8 March 2016. Actions taken to implement selected recommendations from the 2003 OECD Environmental Performance Review are summarised in the Annex.