The non-governmental environmental organization Greenpeace invaded the apron of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), the main airport of the French capital, to paint a parked Air France Boeing 777 in green.
Direct Action – vous voulez voir un avion vert ?
— Greenpeace France (@greenpeacefr) March 5, 2021
Alors que l’urgence climatique exige une réduction du trafic aérien, @Djebbari_JB pense encore qu’un (hypothétique) avion vert suffira.
Nous dénonçons le greenwashing du gouvernement. #OnAtterritQuand #LoiClimat pic.twitter.com/jvRtKleD8V
The activists denounced what they defined as “greenwashing” from the French government. “While the climate emergency demands a reduction in air traffic, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari [France’s Transport Minister – ed. note] still thinks that a (hypothetical) green plane will suffice,” the NGO said on Twitter.
The invasion of France’s main airport raises the question of safety. Djebarri ordered a new “security plan” to be presented by Aéroports de Paris, CDG’s operator. An administrative investigation was opened.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, France presented a series of investments, mainly into hydrogen energy, to create a “green plane” by 2035. But for Greenpeace, it is too little too late. “The climate crisis is playing out now, and it is now that the various sectors must reduce their emissions to avoid a climatic runaway,” the NGO said in a statement.
On February 10, 2021, a bill entitled “Climate and Resilience” was presented to the French government. It called for the forbidding of airport creations or extensions from 2022 “if they result in a net increase, after compensation, in greenhouse gas emissions.” Citing this law, the project to build a new terminal, T4, for Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport (CDG) was scrapped. The bill also included the prohibition of domestic flights if a train can be used as an alternative in less than 2.5 hours.
But according to Greenpeace, those measures were insufficient. For example, they claim that in those conditions, the reduction of domestic flights would only reduce emissions of flights departing from France by 0,5%.