The next prime minister of France could be Laurence Tubiana, a veteran climate diplomat and key architect of the 2015 Paris agreement who currently services as CEO of the European Climate Foundation.
Tubiana has been “in contention” for the post, “with three left-wing parties backing her as a compromise candidate following inconclusive legislative elections,” Climate Home News reported last week. “But infighting among the leftist political coalition that won the most seats means she has yet to be confirmed as its official choice.”
That “inconclusive” election result occurred after 224 eligible candidates in three- and four-way contests withdrew between the first and second rounds of voting earlier this month. After the second round July 7, the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance had won 182 of the 577 seats in France’s National Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party held 168, and Marine Le Pen’s far-right Nationalist Rally party had been limited to 143, still a considerable rise over the 89 seats it won in 2022.
[Still, by successfully blocking National Rally’s rise, those former candidates sparked continuing conversation in Canada about moderate to progressive political parties that to date have only been prepared to cooperate after the final votes are counted—Ed.]
As of last week Tubiana, who has no formal political affiliation, had the support of three of the four partners in the NFP, Climate Home writes. But the biggest member of the group, the hard-left France Unbowed (La France insoumise, or LFI), was opposing her for fear that she’s too close to Macron.
“If this is the profile our partners are working on, I’ll fall off my chair,” LFI Coordinator Manuel Bompard said, adding the suggestion was “not serious”.
But French Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said the other three parties opted for Tubiana” because of her reputation as an economist focusing on green and social issues, and her work on taxing corporate profits in Europe to finance the climate transition,” Bloomberg reports.
“She corresponds completely to what we have defended for a long time and in this campaign particularly — ensuring we have a republic that is social and ecological,” Faure said.
While “the choice of the new prime minister is ultimately up to President Macron,” Climate Home explains, a French president can only govern with support from the majority of deputies in the National Assembly deputies.
Climate Home’s coverage includes a capsule profile of Tubiana that details her early work on food security, global environment, and international relations. She was France’s lead negotiator in the lead-up to the COP21 summit in Paris, has served as an official United Nations champion for climate action, and currently helms the European Climate Foundation.
In late June, Tubiana signed on to Mission 2025, a campaign urging mayors, governors, CEOs, investors, and citizens to align the next round of national climate plans under the Paris deal, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), with a 1.5°C limit on average global warming. Nearly 200 governments have committed to publishing “upgraded” NDCs by February, 2025, the statement coordinated by the We Mean Business Coalition says.
“New analysis shows that the falling costs of clean technologies and the proven feasibility of other solutions mean governments’ upgraded national climate plans can be at least three times more ambitious than existing versions,” said the statement, signed by Tubiana and 18 other climate luminaries. “Scaling these solutions so they benefit citizens around the world will require governments to set the appropriate policies to give business and private capital the confidence to invest at scale.”
