French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking on Friday, emphasized that the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East should not distract the world from combating climate change and poverty. According to Agence France-Presse, in an op-ed in the French newspaper Le Monde, Macron proposed a new global climate pact and reiterated his calls for reforming global financial governance to better integrate emerging countries.
Macron is keen to proceed with his reform agenda, which has been under debate for months, particularly over the immigration law that sparked a political crisis in parliament this month. He stated that the war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas should not distract from “our priorities.”
He added that there needs to be an acceleration in environmental transformation and poverty combat simultaneously. Macron has prioritized the issue of climate change in his policies, highlighting the need for speeding up the financing of renewable energy sources and nuclear energy in emerging countries. He also called for reforms in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, noting that these financial structures are comparatively small in scale given the size of the global economy and population. Macron further pointed out that the governance of these institutions has been fragmented and has not adequately opened doors to emerging and developing countries.
At the Paris summit held in June 2023, Macron called for joint action on climate and poverty, highlighting the need for substantial increases in both public and private funding to address these challenges. The summit aimed to reshape the global financial system to better tackle poverty and climate change, bringing together more than 300 participants, including heads of state, international NGOs, and private sector partners. Key topics included public debt, sustainable development, and financing the energy transition.
Macron’s stance aligns with the broader international commitment to climate change, as nearly 200 nations at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. He has specifically pointed out the responsibility of developed G7 countries and China in leading the way to help the world move off fossil fuels, setting targets for exiting coal, oil, and gas.
