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France to launch plan to deal with 'realistic' 4C warming scenario

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
France to launch plan to deal with 'realistic' 4C warming scenario
Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP

France will this week launch a consultation on the government's climate change roadmap, amid warnings that the country must prepare for temperatures 4C above pre-industrial levels by the century's end as the world falls short in meeting climate change targets.

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Christophe Béchu, minister for ecological transition, told the weekly Journal Du Dimanche paper that his government was no longer banking on limiting the increase to 1.5C or at least well below 2C as agreed in the landmark 2015 Paris climate treaty.

Instead, the most optimistic scenario for 2100 was now 2C for metropolitan France, but twice that was more likely.

"Unless all the world's states intensify their efforts to cut emissions further still, we are on track for global warming of between +2.8C and +3.2C on average, which means +4C for France because Europe is warming fast," Béchu said.

The government was calling that scenario "pessimistic". But Béchu said "in truth we should call it realistic", and that French efforts at adaptation should be based on the 4C outlook, which France should prepare for.

Béchu is set on Tuesday to launch a public consultation to help define the French government's climate change roadmap and strategy for adaptation, as well as outline further efforts at greenhouse gas reduction.

"We can't escape the global reality of global warming," the minister said in a statement, also published Sunday.

"We will therefore have to prepare concretely for its unavoidable effects on our country and our lives," the statement said. "This is why we want to give our country a clear adaptation trajectory."

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Last year was the hottest year on record in France, with records going back to 1900.

The city of Paris is preparing a plan to deal with temperatures hitting 50C (122F).

Grass roofs and siestas: How Paris is preparing for 50C temperatures

Béchu said France could face heatwaves lasting two months at a time if temperatures rise by 4 degrees, and some southern parts of the country might see up to 90 nights per year with sweltering tropical temperatures.

Droughts and extreme rainfall would also become commonplace.

Large parts of France are already on drought alert, as another hot and dry summer is forecast for 2023. Parched countryside also increases the risk of wildfires - last week the parliament approved a measure to ban smoking in forests in order to reduce the risk of fires.

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