Environment

News updates on environmental issues affecting life in France, from green transport initiatives to being eco-friendly at home.

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Got a question about nature or the environment in France? Get in touch at news@connexionfrance.com

A wind turbine on the side of a hill in rolling country

French eco-villages find way to combat depopulation

Imagination, commitment and hard work can help rebuild rural life as these three villages in Dordogne and Limousin show

Rowing coach’s electric boat cleans water as it moves

Seen nipping up and down the River Saône in Lyon, the Neptunéo electric catamaran owes its origins to a long-standing problem... but can prevent others for the future.

French constitution to include environment protection

Protecting the environment is set to become part of the constitution after MPs voted in favour of the move.

Group fills cracks in pavement with plants not cement

Moves to stop more of France being concreted over with new developments – the government says builders must compensate by creating equivalent green spaces – come years after residents in Caen took ‘greening’ into their own hands... by taking over pavement cracks for plants.

New traffic radar monitors car pollution in Paris

Device collects real-time information on pollution levels from vehicle exhausts

Beekeeper’s trap blocks only hornet queens

Denis Jaffré with one of the hornet traps

A Breton beekeeper is preparing for Europe-wide sales of his innovative trap for Asian hornets after he won France’s most prestigious inventor’s prize.

Recycled sea plastic made into floor tiles and a boat

After seeing tonnes of plastic littering a beach in Senegal, a young entrepreneur has started a business turning the waste into flooring tiles and panels, creating jobs in both France and Senegal.

Lights out for French businesses every night

Businesses obliged to switch off illuminated signs, advertising and window displays between 1am and 6am

New giant forest to give Paris ‘green lungs’

Plans to plant a forest up to four times the size of New York’s Central Park

Low-rate loans to ease renovations

Anyone planning home improvements such as a garden workshop, new kitchen or rewiring a house can get a loan for up to €75,000 with lower-than-normal interest rates through a prêt travaux or crédit travaux.

Natural remedies help against harmful caterpillars?

I have had a problem with pyrale du buis caterpillars as they attacked several hedges in my garden. Are there any natural methods I can use against them? V.T.

Green jobs boost for rural France

Farmer and sculptor’s idea inspires new energy projects

MPs ignore Macron pledge on glyphosate

French MPs have voted against calls for a law to ban glyphosate weedkiller despite President Macron’s pledge last November to ban its use in France within three years.

Pets face trip in X-ray scanner to travel in hold

Airline travellers with large pets will, if they are allowed to travel with them, have to put them in the hold as they are not allowed in the cabin, which may mean they will go through the baggage X-ray scanner like all luggage.

French jogger’s litter selfies led to global scheme

Jogger Nicolas Lemonnier thought little of picking up rubbish from the roadside while on a run but posting a photo on Facebook of him doing so has led to a global litter scheme.

Tourists in France 'swimming in a plastic soup'

Figures show French fail to recycle more than half the 25million plastic bottles they use every day, as WWF France releases report that says tourists at the Mediterranean are swimming in a 'plastic soup'

France schedules disaster meeting after storms

Date for catastrophe naturelle meeting set after storms and floods claim more lives

French beekeepers fighting killer Asian hornet

Fight continues

Throwaway coffee cups create business

Company has contracts with Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, SNCF, Michelin and others

Green news: February

Latest environmental, ecological and gardening news from France

France takes lead on glyphosate alternatives

Ministers are encouraging farmers to change practices

Fruit trees grow from mighty oaks

Mairie takes action to compensate for cut down trees

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