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France Passes Law To Ban All Oil, Gas Production By 2040 (cbsnews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the world's-first dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: France's parliament has approved a law banning all exploration and production of oil and natural gas by 2040 within the country and its overseas territories. Under that law that passed a final vote on Tuesday, existing drilling permits will not be renewed and no new exploration licenses will be granted. The French government claims the ban is a world first. However, it is largely symbolic since oil and gas produced in France accounts for just 1 percent of domestic consumption. The rest is imported. French President Emmanuel Macron responded to the approval of the law on Twitter, saying in part: "Very proud that France has become the first country in the world today to ban any new oil exploration licenses with immediate effect and all oil extraction by 2040."

4 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. Re:When the resource wars start by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No, the French will be happily reprocessing nuclear fuel and laughing at the schmucks who are still reliant on fossil fools.

  2. Re:what form of government is this? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Doubt it will happen

    Indeed. They are already backpedaling after the marketing department had a talk with the engineers.

  3. Re:Not for long by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Only until they realize that there are many non-fuel related uses of oil such as plastics, pharmaceuticals, clothing/fabrics, asphalt etc.

    Considering oil is a non-renewable source, it's better that we resolve such issues while we still have the luxury of having an abundant amount of oil. What you need to realize is that many things were developed to use oil because it was so abundant. We're making headway with plastics (see bioplastics) and that's really the biggest issue here.

    Then there is the question about how to power their aircraft.

    I've thought about this exact issue and my conclusion was that hydrogen fuel cells is the best alternative based on current technology. It would be more expensive but all you need is water and electricity to make what you need.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  4. So, they're shutting off oil production in Gabon? by SEE · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oh, wait, I forgot, we're all supposed to pretend Gabon's independent.

    Sure, French relations with Gabon are still managed out of the old colonial office rather than from the ministry of foreign affairs, and France's treasury backs their currency, and there are a bunch of French troops permanently stationed in the country, and (now deceased) Gabonese president Omar Bongo said "Gabon without France is like a car with no driver. France without Gabon is like a car with no fuel." But Gabon is an independent country, you bet.