A month before the first round of the French presidential elections, on 21 March in Paris, the Shift Project, a think-tank on energy transition headed by Matthieu Auzanneau, presented a Manifesto for Decarbonizing Europe. The manifesto, signed in late March by more than 2,500 people — the majority being directors of companies of all sizes and professional organizations, though many are personalities from the French academic world — calls on European states “to introduce policies capable, by 2050, of reducing greenhouse gas emissions as near as possible to zero.” It also effectively invites candidates in the presidential elections to commit to this course of action.
Beyond the borders of France, at a time when President Donald Trump is sending out more than troubling signals to the rest of the world regarding US involvement in the campaign against climate change, the initiative has the virtue of encouraging European states to take a clearly proactive stance on their commitments to the Paris Agreement of late 2015. That proactive attitude is essential to preserve our planet’s climate and limit the disruption future generations will have to face. It is also an important signal to the other signatories of the Paris Agreement to honour the commitments made. This is why Futuribles has taken the decision to carry this manifesto for its readers.
