Environment at a Glance: France
Table of contents
The OECD Environment at a Glance Country Notes are designed to support transparent, evidence-based information. They provide concise and descriptive overview of progress across major environmental issues, including climate, air quality, freshwater resources, waste and the circular economy, and biodiversity conservation. They feature selected environmental indicators, building on harmonised datasets available on OECD Data Explorer. Differences with national data sources can occur due to delays in data treatment and publication, or due to different national definitions and measurement methods. See the Reader’s guide to the Environment at a Glance Country Notes for more information.
France is the largest country by area in the European Union (EU) and one of the largest economies in the OECD. It also includes overseas provinces and territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans as well as in Antarctic. Its maritime domain covers 11 million km2, most of it associated with overseas territories.
The French economy has high productivity, ensuring good standards of living. It is among the most service-based economies in the OECD, while retaining a relatively diversified industrial structure. Around 80% of the population lives in major urban areas.
Thanks to its geographic position and its overseas territories, France embraces a wide diversity of land-based and marine ecosystems. Metropolitan France’s subsoil resources include a wealth of building materials, such as limestone, aggregates and gypsum, as well as industrial minerals, including kaolin, potassium compounds and silica. However, it has limited domestic energy resources and relies heavily on nuclear power. France’s overseas territories are rich in natural resources (marine, mineral and botanic resources, and high biodiversity). Metropolitan France’s water resources are unevenly distributed across regions and seasons, which can result in floods and droughts.
France stands out among the OECD countries for its low share of emissions from the energy industry, owing to the high proportion of nuclear power in electricity generation. Transport is the largest emitting sector, 33 % of emissions excluding land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), followed by agriculture (18%) and the residential sector (16%).
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, excluding LULUCF, decreased by 33% during 2000-2024. Since 1990, the largest emissions reductions occurred in the energy, manufacturing and residential sectors. The transport sector maintained a stable level of emissions, even though the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant, but temporary, drop in 2020. Emissions from agriculture have declined since 2000, due to changes in livestock numbers and a reduction in the use of mineral fertilisers. The LULUCF sector acts as carbon sink. It rose sharply until 2005 but has been reduced in recent years. Tree mortality increased due to repeated droughts, pests (tree dieback linked to bark beetles, chalarosis, etc.), a slowdown in stand growth and an increase in harvesting (Citepa, 2026).
The per person production-based (i.e. produced within the territory) and demand-based (or footprint, i.e. including emissions incorporated in imported goods) GHG emissions have been steadily declining since 1995 and are well below the OECD averages. Demand-based emissions are higher than production-based ones, meaning that France is a net importer of GHG emissions embodied in its final demand (i.e. demand for goods and services by all residents).
The energy mix has remained mostly unchanged since 2000, with the small declines in coal and oil being compensated by an increase in renewables. France has the highest share of nuclear energy among OECD countries. Primary domestic production accounts for just over half of energy supply. Although France now imports almost all the fossil fuels it consumes and has gradually diversified their geographical origin, the introduction of the nuclear power programme has enabled it to export electricity for some forty years. Electricity and natural gas have gradually replaced oil in the main sectors of economic activity, although it is still predominant in transport. Renewable energies are playing a growing role in the national energy mix, accounting for 14% of total energy supply and 27% of electricity in 2025. France's energy consumption has been slowly declining for several years.
Air quality in France is improving as a result of the reduction in major pollutant emissions. This progress follows the implementation over several years of strategies and action plans in various sectors of activity. Average annual concentrations of pollutants are falling, and the number of areas where health-related air quality thresholds are exceeded is decreasing. However, regulatory air quality thresholds for the protection of human health continue to be exceeded, particularly for ozone, nitrogen dioxide (NOx) and particulate matter with a diameter of 10 μm (PM10).
Unlike for sulphur dioxide (SO2), the sources of emissions of NOx and particulate matter are multiple and diffuse, which complicates the implementation of measures to reduce these emissions. NOx, which includes nitrogen monoxide (NO) and NO2, comes mainly from combustion processes. Their emissions fell by 65% during 2000-2024, mainly due to progress made in the road transport sector: renewal of the vehicle fleet, gradual fitting of catalytic converters and development of other reduction technologies. These advances have offset the increase in traffic and the growth in the number of vehicles on the road.
Over the period 2000-2024, emissions of PM10 and PM2.5 fell by 50.7% and 56.2% respectively. This trend can be explained by the progress made in all sectors of activity, such as the refinement of dedusting techniques in industry and the improved performance of biomass combustion plants. Over the same period, emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), which are notably involved in the formation of O3, have been reduced by 50%, with a more marked reduction between 2000 and 2010. These compounds are mainly released by agricultural activities and the use of solvents in industry, as well as in the residential and tertiary sectors.
According to the latest estimate published in 2021 by Santé publique France (French National Public Health Agency), nearly 40 000 deaths, of people aged 30 or more, from non-accidental causes are attributable each year to exposure to PM2.5.
The annual volume of renewable freshwater resources saw a decrease from 2002 on the mainland and regional variability across sub-basins. Between 1959 and 2018, the most remarkable change was the increase in evapotranspiration, both annually and seasonally. This increase was observed in the majority of sub-basins in autumn and winter, and in all sub-basins in spring. During this period, the annual volume of renewable freshwater resources from precipitation decreased in 41 % of the sub-basins, almost all of which in the south. The most vulnerable regions in terms of access to water are mainly in the west. Some of them were frequently subject to severe water use restrictions during the period 2012-2020.
The volume of freshwater abstracted (excluding hydropower) has decreased to about 24 billion m3 per year, with an overall downward trend. Over half of these withdrawals are used to cool power plants. Abstractions for drinking water and the supply of navigation canals each represent between 15 % and 19 % of usage, depending on the year; those for irrigation between 7 % and 12 %, while industrial abstractions account for around 7%.
Some of the water abstracted is not returned to the environment after use. The estimated proportion of returned and consumed water varies greatly depending on the use. According to estimates, the average annual volume of water consumed between 2010 and 2020 is estimated at 4.1 billion m3 in mainland France. In 2023, agriculture was the main water-consuming activity (61 % of the total), ahead of drinking water (24 %), power plant cooling (11 %) and industrial uses (4 %), with a variable distribution depending on the river basin.
Abstractions for the production and distribution of drinking water are on a downward trend: average annual abstractions have fallen from 5.93 billion m3 over the period 1994-2007 to 5.36 billion m3 since 2007. The annual volumes abstracted per person for public supply have fallen, from 102 m3 per inhabitant in 2003 to about 81 m3 per inhabitant for the period 2015-2022. Groundwater accounted for 66 % of these abstractions in 2022.
Eighty-two percent of the population is connected to a wastewater treatment, most of which with advanced treatment facilities. The remaining 18% of the population use independent systems.
France generates more municipal waste per person than the OECD-Europe and OECD averages. Most waste is being recovered through recycling, composting or incineration with energy recovery. On the other hand, 22.2% of municipal waste is still landfilled.
At its peak in 2007, the last year of strong growth in the construction sector before the economic and financial crisis of 2008, domestic material consumption (DMC) was close to 880 Mt. Almost half of this is still made up of construction materials (gravel and sand, aggregates) needed for transport infrastructure and buildings.
France has set itself the target of increasing its material productivity (ratio of GDP to DMC) by 30% over the period 2010-2030, which amounts to producing more value from fewer primary raw materials. In 2024, this productivity reached 5.1 thousand USD PPP (US dollars in power purchasing parity) per tonne, an increase of 21% since 2010, and 58% compared with 2000.
The extraction of non-metallic minerals alone (industrial or used mainly in construction: gravel, sand, slate, sandstone, granite, etc.) accounted for 66.7% of domestic extraction in 2024. In comparison, the extraction of metal ores (iron, gold, aluminium, uranium, etc.) is low (around 0.2 Mt).
By virtue of its geographic position in Europe and overseas, France possesses a very rich natural and cultural heritage; it is a “megadiverse” country. In mainland Europe, France lies at the crossroads of influences and includes four of the eleven biogeographic regions. France is therefore situated in five of the thirty-seven world biodiversity hotspots recognised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and four of these hotspots are located overseas. This variety of territories and bio-geoclimatic influences is reflected in a variety of ecosystems and landscapes. Some are particularly emblematic, scarce or endangered and require special attention, such as the mangrove swamps, coral reefs, aquatic plant habitats, wetlands, certain agro-pastoral environments, cave environments, etc. For example, French overseas territories have 10% of the world’s coral reefs (ranked fourth in the world), thus making a significant contribution to national and global biodiversity. Within these ecosystems, France has very rich and diverse flora and fauna, both in mainland France and overseas territories (CBD).
In metropolitan France, 8 % of land has been artificialised, with sealed soils (infrastructure, car parks, buildings) or highly anthropised soils (extraction of materials, landfill sites, artificialised green spaces, sports facilities). This surface area is constantly increasing, although the rate of artificialisation has slowed down compared with the early 2000s.
By 2024, 18% of the species on the national Red List were extinct or threatened. In mainland France, between 1989 and 2021, populations of common birds in agricultural environments fell by 36%, those in built-up areas by 33% and those in forests by 2%. Between 2006 and 2021, the population of the most common bats fell by 43%. One of the main causes of these trends is the degradation of natural environments. Between 1990 and 2018, almost 60 000 hectares of meadows, lawns and natural pastures in mainland France were lost to artificial development. Intensive farming practices, agricultural abandonment and the closure of open spaces threaten biodiversity. Climate change is also affecting biodiversity. The resulting acidification of the oceans is threatening coral reefs. Another factor in the erosion of biodiversity is the fact that 60 of the 100 species considered to be the most invasive in the world are already present in the French overseas provinces and territories.
In response to the pressures and threats weighing on ecosystems, numerous initiatives have been undertaken at all levels. Protective measures have been put in place. In March 2025, there were 6 720 protected areas in mainland France, managed with seventeen land protection tools. These include strong regulatory protection, nature reserves, protection orders (for biotopes, geotopes or natural habitats) and biological reserves. In 2025, these systems covered 0.95 % of the land and sea area of mainland France. Other types of conservation measures (conventional protection such as regional nature parks, land management actions, the European Natura 2000 network) complete this arsenal. France is one of the few OECD countries that already reached the 2030 target to protect 30% of terrestrial land under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
This section shows selected policy instruments based on data available for most OECD countries and does not provide a complete overview of countries’ policy mix to achieve their environment-related objectives. Interpretation should consider the country specific context.
The share of environmentally related tax revenues in GDP has slightly increased during 2014-19, but has been declining since. However, at 2.04% in 2024, it remains above the OECD and OECD-Europe averages. These revenues are mainly levied on the energy sector. Unlike many other OECD countries, the transport sector is little taxed, and pollution taxes represent a higher share of total revenues, albeit still marginal (less than 1% of total revenues).
In total, 58.5% of GHG emissions in France were subject to a positive Net Effective Carbon Rate1 (ECR) in 2023. Explicit carbon prices in France consist of ETS permit prices and carbon taxes, which cover 60.4% of GHG emissions in CO2 equivalent. With roughly 40.7% of total GHG emissions, coverage is largest for carbon taxes. Fuel excise taxes, an implicit form of carbon pricing, covered 49.6% of emissions in 2023. Direct fossil fuel subsidies cover 40.9% of emissions. About 42% of GHG emissions have a Net ECR above EUR 60 per tonne of CO2 equivalent, a mid-range estimate of current carbon costs. Net ECRs are highest in the road transport sector, which accounts for 27% of the country's total GHG emissions. The Net ECR is negative in the buildings and agriculture and fisheries sectors. Together, these sectors account for 17.8% of GHG emissions (OECD, 2024).
The share of environmentally related government research and development (R&D) budget has remained relatively stable around 1.5-3% since 2000. The share of renewables in public energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D) has slightly increased from 13.3% in 2000 to 15.8% in 2015, to then decrease to 9.6% in 2024.
France is home to a relatively high number of environmentally related inventors. Its number of per person environmentally related inventions is below the OECD average but above the OECD-Europe. Its share in total inventions has also been following the OECD area trend, with a general increase, followed by fluctuations in the past decade and a decline in more recent years.
France is among the top providers of official development assistance (ODA) in volume, with a strong focus on Africa and the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss, namely accelerating the phase-out of coal, financing renewable energies and protecting carbon reserves and biodiversity. Its development co-operation combines grants, loans and private sector instruments to mobilise finance for sustainable development while linking the green and social agendas. France’s total ODA represented 0.42% of gross national income in 2025. The share of bilateral ODA for climate has been increasing in recent years, to reach almost 59% in 2023-24. Similarly, the share of biodiversity has reached 26.1%, a very high compared to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) average (OECD, 2026).
References
CBD. (n.d.). Country profiles: France. Retrieved from https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile?country=fr
Citepa. (2026). Rapport National d’Inventaire pour la France au titre de la Convention cadre des Nations Unies sur les Changements Climatiques - 1990-2024. Retrieved from https://unfccc.int/documents/656571
OECD. (2024). Pricing Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2024: Gearing Up to Bring Emissions Down. OECD Series on Carbon Pricing and Energy Taxation, OECD Publishing, Paris. doi:10.1787/b44c74e6-en
OECD. (2026). Development Co-operation Profiles. OECD Publishing, Paris. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/development-co-operation-profiles_04b376d7-en/france_b991b2e4-en.html
Further reading
IEA (2021), France 2021 Energy Policy Review, IEA Energy Policy Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/2c889667-en
Ministry of the Environment (2024), State of the environment in France – Synthesis of the 2024 Report, Paris. https://www.notre-environnement.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/english_publication_state_environment_france_synthesis_2024_report.pdf
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← 1. Effective Carbon Rate (ECR) is the sum of fuel excise taxes, carbon taxes and tradeable permits that effectively put a price on carbon emissions. The Net ECR equals the ECR minus fossil fuel subsidies that decrease pre-tax fossil fuel prices.