Macron urges France’s big polluters to cut emissions by half

By SYLVIE CORBET
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is urging the country’s most climate-damaging industries to double their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the next decade. Macron convened a meeting in Paris with the heads of 50 industrial sites in France accounting for about 10% of France’s total greenhouse gas emissions. He asked them to cut by half their emissions. The industries include major producers of cement, steel, aluminum and other metals and chemicals. In exchange, Macron said the French state is ready to double its financial aid from 5 to 10 billion euros. The transition toward new, greener technologies is costly. France and the European Union want to avoid seeing big industries leave the continent and instead invest elsewhere, like in the U.S. or China.