Macron vs Le Pen: who do you think has the highest carbon footprint?

To the question “What is the carbon cost of each proposal on the program of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron and candidate Marine Le Pen?” “, the Greenly application has set to work to answer it. In other words, to be as close as possible to the Paris Agreement, which program limits global warming the most? How does each candidate intend to lead the ecological transition?

To find out, the Greenly application has carried out a detailed calculation. Guess which candidate pollutes the most! fewecology on the program of the two presidential finalists, who will confront their proposals this Wednesday, April 20 during the debate between the two rounds. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, however, have in common to position themselves on pro-nuclear measures.

In this area, the RN candidate would even have a slight lead over the outgoing president since the latter provides for the construction of ten new reactorswhich could result in a potential saving of 54 Mt CO₂ eq per year (12% of the national footprint annual Once power plants active).

In comparison, Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to build six new reactors would allow a reduction of 32 Mt CO eq.₂ per year, i.e. 7% of the footprint total of France, estimates the study Greenlycarried out according to the impact of the candidates’ proposals by sector, based on the recommendations of the IPCC.

Wind power, transport and industry

Marine Le Pen, however, loses four “points” with her desire to stop the projects of construction of wind turbines underway and to dismantle existing parks, which would add 4 Mt of CO emissions₂ to his program. Conversely, Emmanuel Macron proposes to enlarge the offshore wind farm and onshore, which would help reduce CO emissions₂ of 2Mt.

The other criteria scrutinized in this study concern industry, housing and transportation. And in these three respective areas, the RN candidate shines rather by its absence of proposals. ” When Emmanuel Macron proposes measures to decarbonize industryincluding an investment of more than 5 billion euros which would save 5 Mt CO2 éq, Marine Le Pen does not comment on the subject “, notes the study. If the two candidates position themselves on the development of hydrogen transportMarine Le Pen proposes raising the limit of speed at 90 km/h, which would generate emissions estimated at 0.4 Mt eq CO₂or 0.1% of France’s annual carbon footprint.

Housing: a bit of vagueness and slack in the proposals

” In terms of lodgingthe two programs lack precision to properly quantify the impact, even if Emmanuel Macron advances more objectives on the renovation housing and that Marine Le Pen is simply referring to a renovation aid loan », Underlines the survey.

In view of these data, outgoing President Emmanuel Macron is therefore catching up with his “delay” with an overall reduction of around 53Mt CO eq.₂against just under 50 Mt CO eq₂ for Marine Le Pen. But overall, the measures proposed by the two finalists remain insufficient. ” The presidential campaign is another missed opportunity to raise awareness among the French about climate issues who darken their future », laments Alexis Normand, CEO of Greenly.