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.
Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot says the law shows "current generations can take care of future generations."
The ban is part of a larger plan to wean the French economy from fossil fuels and to fulfill France's commitments under the Paris climate agreement to curb global warming.
slayer991 on December 20th, 2017 at 02:07 UTC »
2040? That's a long ways away. What's to prevent another legislature from overturning the law?
wompical on December 19th, 2017 at 23:06 UTC »
I just decided to stop smoking weed in 2040
RogerTheBadger on December 19th, 2017 at 21:22 UTC »
France only produces a very, very small, quantity of oil and gas.
But the bigger picture is that this also kills the prospect of things like fracking in France.
Note also that France has extensive overseas territories and that this law applies to them as well.