Word Count: 2175 Student ID: 10902651

What explains the varying levels of environmental ambition shown by France and Germany?

Select one environmental policy area to compare across each state and justify your choice.

In this essay, I will explain the varying levels of ambition shown by France and Germany

regarding their policies and actions towards climate mitigation. I will focus on the role that

the growth and power of green parties have had in shaping ambition. I believe that the

change in voters' values and the disaffection for mainstream parties due to global crises

have combined with the unique political systems of each country to allow a Green Party in

Germany to thrive, helping it to achieve greater ambition, whilst in France it has served to

the Green Party’s detriment. To show this, I will begin by discussing how ambition should be

measured, and in what time frame my measuring will occur. I will then see how France and

Germany compare, regarding climate mitigation, and finish by explaining the success of

green parties in their respective countries.

As I will be focusing on the policy area of climate mitigation, it is important to

understand this concept fully, as well as the history behind it. According to the UN (2017),

climate mitigation refers to efforts to reduce or prevent emissions of greenhouse gases. This

can come in a variety of forms. It could mean the use of new technologies, the use of

renewable energies, the changing of consumer habits or a reduction in energy consumption.

Our need for climate mitigation is higher than ever before. Global carbon dioxide emissions

in 2020 were 60% higher than in 1990. Historical accounts show us that by the 1980s

anthropogenic climate change was a real concern and that action was needed (Stoddard et

al., 2021). Since then, the UN General Assembly has attempted to act on climate change and
promote climate mitigation, first through the Kyoto Protocol and more recently through the

Paris Agreement of 2015. The Paris Agreement was a landmark treaty as for the first time it

created a legally binding agreement that brought all nations together to combat climate

change (UNFCCC, 2023). Its goal is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end

of this century. Progress and ambition towards achieving this goal has been varied.

For this essay, I will be measuring climate mitigation ambition primarily through the

use of the Climate Change Performance Index or the CCPI to measure the ambition of France

and Germany. The CCPI uses four indicators of different weight (Climate policy 20%, energy

use 20%, renewable energy 20%, and greenhouse gas emissions 40%), to evaluate the

country’s progress in achieving the Paris Agreement’s goals (CCPI, 2023). It is important to

understand that each country’s performance in this index changes year on year so taking the

measurements for just the current or previous year would not be representative. Instead, I

will analyse the trends of France and Germany from the year of the Paris Agreement (2015)

to now, then examine their trajectories in the field of climate mitigation to best understand

their ambition. Another factor I will explore is each country's level of leadership on a global

stage within the field of climate mitigation.

In 2015 France ranked 12 th of the 61 countries evaluated (Burck et al., 2014). In 2023

it ranks 17th, falling down the rankings (CCPI, 2023). Regarding its greenhouse gas emissions,

the most weighted indicator, France’s current levels do not align with its Paris climate goals.

However, the CCPI also shows us that its current downward trend in greenhouse gas

emissions is very promising. Whilst not enough to meet its Paris Agreement goals, France’s

consistently falling emissions are a positive sign and show the country is moving in the right

direction. Its energy use per capita is also on the decrease, peaking at 170 giga joules per

capita in 2004, it now stands at 127. However, this is still far from close to meeting its Paris
Agreement pathway. If it were, France would be using 105 gigajoules per capita. However, its

current trend has a chance of meeting this pathway. In regards to renewable energy, a

similar trend occurs. Although currently not producing anywhere near enough to be in line

with Paris goals (just 9% so far), its usage is trending up. It is important to note here that a

huge part of France’s energy mix is made up of Nuclear energy. 36.33% in 2020. When

combined with renewables, in 2020, just under 50% of energy came from nuclear and

renewable sources (Our World in Data, 2020). The CCPI does not consider nuclear energy to

be a renewable source. However, for nuclear reactors already running, many would say it is a

carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels. Therefore I would argue that France should be

ranked higher than it currently is. In the category of leadership, France has done much

globally. The mere fact we talk about the climate goals that were created in the French

capital of Paris shows the role the nation has been taking in guiding global climate policy. As

well as this, France has rapidly built one of the world’s most comprehensive high-speed rail

systems and successfully exported its technology to Africa, Asia and the Americas, to build

carbon-friendly high-speed rail systems (Berti, 2019). As well as this, the country has

revealed several projects to show its commitment to environment-friendly policies. For

example, by 2025 Paris will become one of the world’s first global cities in which swimming

in its rivers will not just be permitted, but encouraged. Whilst some might say such projects

are merely PR stunts to make France look good on the world stage, they do help to set a

precedent and an example as to how we can mitigate climate impacts.

Germany’s current climate mitigation ambitions differ from France's. In 2015 it

ranked 22nd of the 61 countries (Burck et al., 2014). In 2023 Germany ranked in 13 th place, a

significant improvement, and well above France (CCPI, 2023). In greenhouse gas emissions,

it is ranked low in terms of its relation to its current Paris Goals. However much like France, it
is trending in the right direction. In terms of energy use per capita, to comply with its Paris-

compatible pathway, Germany should be using 116 gigajoules of energy per capita instead of

its current 129. However, energy use per capita peaked in the 90s and has been on a trend

of decreasing ever since. Currently, regarding renewable energy, Germany is doing far better

than France. 15.5% of its energy comes from renewable sources. However, Germany has

recently decommissioned its last remaining nuclear power plants and it is believed that this

will make it much harder to achieve its climate goals as more of its energy mix will have to

come from fossil fuel sources (Thurau, 2023). In terms of carbon-neutral energy sources

then, France is doing far better than Germany. This percentage of its energy mix coming

from renewables is rapidly increasing, but not yet at a rate that will meet the country’s

ambitious climate goals. Finally, there is leadership. Germany was one of the first to take a

strong stance on environmental mitigation as such it became one of the six climate leaders

in the 1990s (Anderson and Liefrerink, 1999). Germany also had more of an impact on

reducing the price of solar energy than any other country, primarily through its 2000 law on

solar feed-in tariffs, (Scheltens, 2023). However, most of Germany’s climate mitigation

leadership has occurred historically. Now it stands at a relatively equal level of leadership to

many of its European neighbours.

Germany has a slightly higher level of ambition towards climate mitigation than

France. Despite France’s lower rating by the IPCC, it deserves a higher rating on the scale.

Nuclear energy is not factored into its energy production and in terms of leadership, France’s

environmental policies have been publicised the world over, along with its famous climate

mitigation technologies. France deserves more recognition for its climate mitigation, but it is

not yet on par with Germany in terms of actual results.

 The key reason I will be analysing why France and Germany have varying levels of

ambition regarding climate mitigation is the success of heir green parties. When in

government, greens have shown themselves to be incredibly successful at pushing their

movements onto the national agenda. Despite the recent war with Ukraine massively

increasing the price of energy, the Green Party in Germany were still able to complete the

phasing out of its last nuclear power plants (Thurau, 2023). In Ireland, the recent

involvement of their Green Party in a newly formed coalition government, has rapidly

resulted in stronger climate targets (McBride, 2021). Green parties have grown in power the

world over since the 90s. In Europe, this rise has been even more pronounced (McBride,

2021). There are several reasons behind this.

Robert Inglehart’s thesis on post-materialism may provide one explanation.

According to Inglehart, party lines started to shift away from the traditional Marxist left-right

axis in the 1980s. This was due to a shift in values from materialist to post-materialist ones

(Inglehart and Rabier, 1986). According to Inglehart, this had occurred because people's

“values reflected the conditions that prevailed during one’s adulthood years”. As a result of

the unprecedented prosperity in the post-war years in Western states, there was less of a

focus on economic and political security than amongst the older generations (Inglehart and

Rabier, 1986). These new materialist values included amongst them the environmentalism

movement. In this new age, parties like the Greens are no longer radical outsiders but have

claimed a mainstream place in politics, now serving in the highest levels of government

(McBride, 2021). The dissatisfaction with mainstream parties due to a series of recent crises

has also had an impact on the success of green parties. The social turmoil caused by COVID-

19, for example, undermined public faith in authorities. Green’s outsider status, and

idiosyncratic ideology, have meant that they have been able to benefit from the current
dissatisfaction (McBride, 2021). Other crises that have resulted in a defection from Europe’s

centrist parties have also resulted in a boost for the green parties, the 2008 economic crisis

for example (McBride, 2021).

These reasons may explain why Green parties have generally risen in power over the

past few decades, but they fail to explain why Germany has been more ambitious in its

climate mitigation than France. This is down to the structure of each country’s government.

Both have seen green parties achieve wins at lower levels of government, but only in

Germany have they been able to access the highest levels, a position required to make

change on a national level. The cause of this is France and Germany’s respective majoritarian

and consensus democracies. According to Lijphart (1994), consensus democracy provides a

more accurate representation of minority interests. A mix of proportional representation

and first past the post in Germany ensures that the Green Party will always get a seat so long

as they achieve 5% of the country’s second vote. Voters are therefore more likely to vote for

them as they are no longer considered a wasted vote. The more people voting for the greens

the more likely they are to form a ruling coalition and promote their policies. The

majoritarian model of French politics means that minority groups are far less likely to gain

executive power (Lijphart, 1994). As a result, people are less likely to vote for a Green Party,

often prioritising the “least bad” option instead. Combining with the voting systems of each

country, is the level of devolution within them. A federal country like Germany provides

more opportunities for green parties to gain important roles in government. States in

Germany have significant power in shaping local climate policy. If a green party controls the

cabinet of a German state then they cannot only provide a template for how they might

govern Germany as a whole, but also initiate strong climate policy. France, a country without

these important ‘halfway’ levels of government does not provide this same opportunity.
 It should be noted though that the success of Germany's Green Party has not always

been beneficial to its climate goals. The role they have taken in shutting down nuclear power

plants has meant that Germany has been left with far less carbon-neutral energy and must

work overtime to achieve Energiewende. A full transition to renewable energy sources.

To conclude, although the causes behind the varying ambitions of France and

Germany’s climate mitigation are many, I have chosen to focus on each country’s ability to

put green parties in power. When in power Green parties have a significant impact on

climate mitigation ambition. Without them, climate policies are often watered down and not

achieved to their fullest extent. The unique political systems of the two countries have

allowed one green party to thrive whilst the other has primarily stayed in the shadows. As a

result, Germany is currently showing greater levels of ambition regarding it climate

mitigation policy.

References.

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pioneers. Manchester: Manchester Univ Press.

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Technology. Available at: https://www.railway-technology.com/features/best-train-
technologies/?cf-view&cf-closed (Accessed: 14 November 2023).

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reshaping-global-politics.

Our World in Data (2020) Energy Consumption by Source, Our World in Data. Available at:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-source-and-country?
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Scheltens, L. (2023) How Solar Energy Got so Cheap, Vox. Available at:
https://www.vox.com/videos/23682054/solar-policy-cost-us-germany-china.

Stoddard, I. et al. (2021) ‘Three Decades of Climate Mitigation: Why Haven’t We Bent the
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