Pacte Ecologique
In 2007, Nicolas Hulot warned candidates in the French Presidential election that he would present himself as a candidate if ecology were one of the main subjects of the elections. His high popularity – and some polls credited him with more than 15% of votes if he were to run – meant he represented a serious threat to other presidential candidates.
To avoid this event, five of the 12 candidates in the French Presidential election signed his "Pacte Ecologique" (ecology pact), affirming that ecological problems would be key in all future political decisions. The importance of this pact, is however, questionable.
Some of the decisions made by the French government as a result of this pact are:
- The Ecology Minister became a "Ministre d'état," an honorific title in the French republic. - An important conference was held between environmental organizations, enterprises, researchers, economists and other experts to discuss policies to combat the current environmental crisis. It was referred to as "Le Grenelle de l'environnement," in reference to the Grenelle Agreements of 1968. - In 2009, the government tried to set up a carbon tax.
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