Why have we seen two decades of static emissions in France? A report from France’s ministry of sustainable development states that between 1990 and 2007 France carbon emissions have not declined. This is a little puzzling given that France is signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, an environmental treaty binding 37 countries to reduce emissions by 2012. It is still further perplexing when you consider France has been championing nuclear power since the 1970’s and relies heavily on this ‘clean’ energy for over 75% of it’s electricity, according to IAEA statistics. With 58 nuclear power reactors in operation across the country, France has more reactors than any other country except the United States. So if France relies so little on carbon dioxide-producing fuels for energy then why haven’t the French managed to bring down their emissions of the greenhouse gas in recent years? WIth crunch time for the Kyoto protocol looming, it’s worth asking what has happened.

According to the ministry, the static emissions are due to an increase in production and consumption offseting gains in efficiency. “If there had been zero economic growth during the same period, carbon dioxide output would have decreased by more than 30%,” Michele Pappallardo, commissioner for sustainable development, told (AFP.

In-fact, since 2007 there are signs that France is back on track to meeting its Kyoto obligations. Between 2007 to 2009, France’s output of Kyoto gases went down by 10%. And looking at just the energy sector, France has recently outperformed its European neighbours in bringing down its emissions.

But then, on the other hand, 2009 was a year when global emissions of carbon dioxide levelled off for the first time since the 1992 recession, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency in Bilthoven (see Nature’s article here under ‘Emissions report’). And we must keep all of this in perspective. As a report in Climate Change (doi: 10.1007/s10584-010-9914-6) reminds us there are error bars of 5-10% associated with calculations of countries emissions because emissions are calculated indirectly. So how do we know that any claim of a reduction of less than 10% is real?

In a 26 July report on energy policies by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the French government pledged to “decrease CO2 emissions by 75% by 2050 and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transport sector to 1990 levels by 2020”. The IEA has welcomed France’s commitment to combating climate change and the IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka told AFP these goals were “both ambitious and encouraging”. In 2012, observers will be able to see how far France has progressed towards its goals, and if the other 36 industrialised countries that are signatories to Kyoto have fared any better in keeping their promises.