PARIS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- France's greenhouse gas emissions are projected to fall by 2.8 percent in 2026 from the previous year, but this reduction would remain less than that required to meet the country's climate goals, according to a report released Tuesday.
The Interprofessional Technical Center for Studies on Air Pollution (Citepa), an independent body responsible for monitoring the country's emissions, said in its latest barometer that France's greenhouse gas emissions, excluding carbon sinks, totaled an estimated 179.7 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in the first half of 2026. This was down 4.1 percent from the same period in 2025.
The decline was mainly driven by the buildings and transport sectors, where emissions fell by 12.0 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, according to Citepa.
However, the downward trend is expected to slow in the second half of the year, with emissions projected to fall by 1.3 percent year on year, the report said.
For the whole of 2026, France's greenhouse gas emissions are projected to reach 349.4 million tons of CO2e. This represents a reduction of 2.8 percent, slightly below the 3.1 percent decline envisaged for 2026 under France's third National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC 3). It would also remain well below the average annual rate of emission cuts needed to meet the country's climate targets by 2030.
Citepa said France's emissions reductions will need to accelerate in the coming years to comply with its carbon budgets and meet its climate targets for 2030. Under the SNBC 3 roadmap, annual emissions cuts are expected to accelerate to 5.7 percent in 2027 and 6.1 percent in 2028 from the previous year. ■