In spite of the withdrawal of the United States, the Bonn conference, with 180 countries participating, reached an agreement on the rules for the implementation of the Kyoto protocol. This should allow it to be ratified by at least 55 countries representing 55% of green-house gas emissions, and consequently to enter into force before November 2002. The majority of countries have resolved the main stumbling blocks responsible for the failure at The Hague. As an example, the European Union agreed that forestry and agricul-tural activities can be included in the calculations when taking carbon sinks into consideration. Moreover, it was agreed that financial aid from industrialized countries to developing countries would be strengthened. Finally, the principle of sanctions/reparation in the event of non-compliance with commitments was adopted. The next international conference in Marrakech in November should result in the finalisation of the rules for the application of this agreement.
In France, the National Programme to combat Climate Change, which was adopted in January 2000 to implement the commitments made in Kyoto in 1997, has registered some significant progress.
In the building sector, new thermal regulations were adopted and will be reinforced in five years. For companies, two financial tools were created, which will provide support for investment projects for SMEs: FIDEME (Fund for the environment and energy management) and FOGIME (Investment guarantee fund for energy management). The reduction of the Value Added Tax rate for energy-saving products and services called for by the National Programme to combat Climate Change will only be implemented within the European framework of the revision of the VAT directive.
Conversely, the plan to tax the energy consumption of businesses did not come into action by the end of 2000. In the transport sector, new aid from ADEME will promote the combined transportation of freight and encourage local authorities to improve the organisation of urban transportation. The objectives for renewable energy were strengthened (21% of electrical generation from renewable sources for France in 2010 according to the European directive) and new rates for purchasing electricity from renewable sources will result in strong development of the wind energy sector. At the same time, ADEME’s efforts to promote wood energy will be continued, in particular through the promotion of municipal and industry boilers.
This summary of the results for the first year of the National Programme to combat Climate Change shows that significant measures have been taken in France. It also reveals that a number of obstacles still need to be dealt with, particularly in regard to fiscal measures and concerning coordination at European level.

François Moisan
Director of Strategy and Communication