Tackling France's carbon footprint. In response to the government's seisin

The strategy to reduce imported emissions could harness four areas of leverage. The key area of leverage concerns businesses, which need to minimise imported emissions associated with supply chains through consideration of the environmental implications of their actions. The 'consideration' provision in the Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation (Pacte) Act must be strengthened by leveraging public tendering or through firmer obligations. To support businesses in the decarbonization of their supply chains, two measures stand out. On the one hand, decarbonization strategies bearing on imported emissions by sector need to be set up, with quantified targets, in conjunction with the stakeholders and grounded in the most ambitious existing initiatives. ese strategies bearing on imported emissions need to be added to the agenda regarding decarbonization strategies for the domestic emissions of sectors, which the Government already announced in its response to the first report of the High Council on Climate (HCC). On the other hand, introducing a 'carbon score', as has already been recommended by the Citizens' Convention on Climate, that is carefully linked with the other environmental indicators, would help to boost competition on environmental quality and strategic product differentiation. The second area of leverage concerns households, who are unable to factor imported emissions into their consumer choices because they do not have access to information about them. Measures targeting consumers must therefore form part of an overall campaign supporting more sustainable lifestyles and greater temperance (which falls outside the scope of this report) and providing information about the climate impact of products through the 'carbon score'. The final two areas of leverage concern France's diplomatic action with the EU and beyond, which must lead to a reduction in imported emissions. At European level, France must push for an assessment of the impact that European policies, free-trade agreements in particular - such as the one being negotiated with South American economic bloc Mercosur - have on the carbon footprint and imported emissions. is assessment should include the impact on imported deforestation. Moreover, border carbon adjustments aim at re-balancing the competitiveness of European businesses relative to that of their trade partners who may not have an ambitious climate policy. is scheme could end up impacting imported emissions if it increases the price of certain GHG-intensive imported products. The order of magnitude of such effects on competitiveness and on the distribution of costs between EU households, on the one hand, and between partner countries and the EU, on the other, still needs to be determined however, as they depend on detailed implementation arrangements. Outside the EU, France's priorities regarding its action abroad must include the scaling up of international pledges under the Paris Agreement. Finally, implementation of the national strategy against imported deforestation must pick up pace and be accompanied by measurable targets.