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This week in CSR news, we are going to talk about carbon emissions, they cost France 94 billion euros: an economic and climate bill that is challenging.While the cost of greenhouse gas emissions weighs heavily on the French economy, INSEE reveals, for the first time, edifying figures on their financial impact. Behind this observation lies an urgent need: to rethink our economic and accounting models to fully integrate climate issues. By better understanding this data, it is a window into the challenges — but also the opportunities — of a sustainable future that opens up.
Find all the news of the week in this article.
Carbon emissions cost France 94 billion
For the first time, INSEE is publishing national accounts that take into account the weight of GHG emissions in the French economy. A way to highlight that climate change makes our economic model unsustainable in the long term.
First, it should be noted that while our emissions related to national activities are down (-31% compared to 1990), our carbon footprint including imports is decreasing only very slightly. In its calculations, INSEE considers two types of costs:
The costs associated with climate damage and adaptation
The costs associated with decarbonizing the economy
Thus, the PINA (adjusted net domestic product) would be lower by 4.1% compared to the French net domestic product, i.e. 94 billion euros in 2023.
Rethinking carbon accounting with imported emissions
A report produced by Carbone 4 and the European Climate Foundation (ECF) highlights a blind spot in states' carbon accounting: “emissions related to international trade are constantly increasing.”
In fact, nearly 25% of GHG emissions are produced by countries that export goods and resources at the request of other importing countries. And, this dimension is generally excluded from calculations, affecting the competitiveness of national economies.
To adjust the situation, the report recommends calculating by final consumption (called “carbon footprint”). In other words, by adjusting emissions by country “according to their trade”. This would prevent the calculation of a carbon footprint that would fail to integrate an external supply chain in the assessment of its impact.
Climate change will impoverish the global economy
The Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) has published an update of its foresight scenarios that seek to assess the economic and financial risks of climate change. The improvement of calculation methods and the chronic nature of the risks identified give an “evaluation three times higher” than previous expectations.
Thus, this network of global central banks dedicated to greening the financial system alerts to the fact that at least “15% of GDP will be lost in 2050 due to the climate crisis”. A figure that considers the climate trajectory currently taken by global economies.
This holistic calculation method takes into account the physical risks associated with climate change, and questions the threat that economies themselves pose to their own production models.
European Week for Waste Reduction!
From 18 to 26 November, the European Week for Waste Reduction (SERD) will take place, organized by Ademe. An event that intends to mobilize all forms of organizations, from communities to businesses. The approach aims to mobilize around the reduction of waste and the promotion of more responsible practices.
This year, the theme chosen is sustainable food, which does not fail to bring together social, economic and environmental issues. In fact, food represents a quarter of French GHG emissions.
With more than 2.5 million participants in 2023, SERD alerts this year that nearly 4 million tons of food waste that is still edible are wasted annually. The platform underlines the absurdity of such a situation, considering the food insecurity that affects certain populations.
Shell finally wins its appeal
The Court of Appeal in The Hague finally overturned the Dutch court's decision to force the oil giant to reduce its GHG emissions by 45% for 2030. More specifically, the Court recognizes that Shell must reduce its emissions, but cannot impose a specific figure to do so.
The representative of the complainant NGOs and associations spoke, describing this decision as “a setback for the climate movement”.
However, this historic decision paves the way for litigation that would target companies that do not comply with the Paris Climate Agreement. A legal argument that it will now be possible to oppose companies in court proceedings. In other words, this decision explicitly recognizes “the responsibility of oil and gas companies in climate change”, affirms Jérémie Suissa, general delegate of the association Our common business.
How many climate deniers are there in France?
The organization Let's talk about climate has published a major survey dedicated to the issue of climate scepticism. Above all, they remind us that there is a difference between individuals who do not believe in the idea of climate change at all (the “denialists”), and those who question its human origin and its severity (the “climate sceptics”).
According to the latest figures from October 2024 from Ademe, 38% of French people are climate sceptical. Among them, “30% think that climate change is a natural phenomenon.”
The study shows that climate deniers are generally over 65 (a third of those surveyed), and that the most radical postures are mostly found in men. In addition, individuals “highly qualified” are less represented among the population who are most skeptical about the human origin of climate change.
A sustainable food transition to increase GDP?
Deloitte published a report on sustainable food on the sidelines of COP29. There, he develops the economic and social benefits of a sustainable food transition, which would both fight against malnutrition and support the global economy. Indeed, to date, nearly 10% of the population is undernourished, i.e. 730 million people.
The study raises the following difficulty: a sustainable food transition means that, by 2070, the world will have to feed nearly 10 billion people by producing 40% more calories, while limiting the environmental impacts of their production.
Finally, they note that this could reduce the number of malnourished individuals by 300 million. However, this requires rapid and coordinated action, the study recalls.
COP29: end of new coal-fired power plants
25 countries pledged to stop opening coal-fired power plants on November 20 in Baku, on the occasion of the 29th Conference of the Parties on Climate. France, Canada, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom have signed this commitment. On the other hand, the United States, China and India are missing.
While the opening of new coal-fired power plants is the core of this commitment, it is notable that mining and exporting are not. Thus, the signatories maintain a certain margin of manoeuvre in their energy policies.
In addition to not approving new openings of coal-fired power plants, the signatory states have also committed to including this objective in their future climate plans. Enough to change energy policies concerning this resource that is even more emissive than oil and gas.
Postponement of the anti-deforestation law by the European Parliament
The European Parliament has postponed the entry into force of the RDUE, the European regulation against deforestation and forest degradation, for 12 months. This deferral of the regulation is accompanied by an easing of some of the constraints that it included.
The regulation aims to prohibit the placing on the market or export from the European market of products that have contributed to deforestation or forest degradation. According to economist Alain Karsenty, a specialist in deforestation issues, this delay is part of a more general dynamic of questioning “European regulations on a crucial subject”.
The NGOs estimate that a 12-month delay of the RDUE would correspond to the deforestation of at least 150,385 hectares linked to the economic and commercial activity of the EU.
Responsible advertising? The double game of the actors in the ad
The advertising world seems to be torn between an injunction of marketing effectiveness that can hardly do without environmental issues, and its strict regulation to fight against greenwashing.
Major players, such as L'Oréal through its French president, are as annoyed by regulatory constraints as by the opprobrium thrown at them by certain actors in favor of their regulation: “We're all a little bit fed up with denunciation.”
Indeed, the economic viability of a large number of highly polluting sectors is largely due to their advertising coverage. In France in 2023, brands spent nearly €34 billion on communication, half of which on buying advertising space. A figure that also invites us to rethink what advertising should or should not value as an ideal of life and as consumer products.
The sources
Youmatter “€94 billion is the cost of carbon emissions on the French economy”
Le Monde “Imported greenhouse gas emissions, a blind spot for the climate impact of rich countries”
RSE Magazine “SERD 2024: a mobilization to reduce waste”
Green “Who are the climate deniers in France and how many are they really?”
ESG news “Sustainable food systems could save 300 million people from undernourishment”
RSE Magazine “COP29: the major powers say stop to new coal-fired power plants”
Youmatter “Deforestation: The European Parliament confirms the postpone of the RDUE”
Le Monde “The world of advertising torn between consumption and climate issues”
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