Country Profiles

National Committee for Sustainable Development and Environment Roundtable

Comité National du Développement Durable et du Grenelle de l'Environnement (CNDDGE)

Contact

Name: Ms. Nicole Jensen

Position: Secretary-General

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Phone: +33 1 40 81 34 92

Address:  

Comité National du Développement Durable et du Grenelle de l'Environement (CNDDGE) 

c/o Bureau de la stratégie nationale du développement durable

244 bd St Germain - bât 6 - bureau 6331

F-75007 - Paris, France

Website:  http://www.legrenelle-environnement.fr/-Version-anglaise-.html

France200

Mission Statement

The task of the CNDDGE is to ensure the follow-up and implementation of the commitments of the Environment Roundtable (see ‘Key work/successes’). It provides its input on the government's policies concerning sustainable development. For this purpose, the council has as main objectives to elaborate, follow-up and evaluate the national strategies of SD and biodiversity. The CNDDGE provides its advice on annual reports following-up and evaluating the national Sustainable Development and Biodiversity strategies prior to their submission to the parliament.’

The CNDDGE may also propose recommendations and pieces of advice of its own initiative.

Composition and Membership

The Committee was first created as an ‘SDC’ in 1993, formalised in 2003 as the CFDD (Commission française du développement durable) along with the CNDD (Conseil National du Développement Durable). France installed the CNDDGE by decree in 2010 following the termination of the CNDD.

Chair: The Minister of Sustainable Development, Ms. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet.

Secretary-general: Nicole Jensen.

The CNDDGE has 41 Council Members and 39 replacements divided into eleven groups: the Senate, House of Representatives, local and regional authorities represented by the French Association of Mayors, the French Association of Communities, the Assembly of French Departments and the Association of French Regions; representatives of business, economic and trade or professional organisations and trade unions; representatives from  associations and NGOs active in the field of environmental protection; and stakeholder organisations chosen for their expertise in SD. Members are appointed for a period of 3 years, the mandate may be renewed once.

Office support is provided by the Office/Secretariat for national SD strategy. The permanent staff of the secretariat numbers 10.

 

Role and Functions

 

  • advising on government policy or making policy recommendations, including NSDS; and
  • stakeholder engagement.

 

Recent Activities 

The Environment Round Table (‘Grenelle’):

The process underpinning the creation of the CNDDGE was a multi-stakeholder discussion organised by Jean Louis Borloo, Secretary of State for Ecology and Sustainable Planning and Development; Dominique Bussereau, Secretary of State for Transport; and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Secretary of State for Ecology. For the first time, the Round Table brought civilian and public service representatives together in discussion, thus forming 5 ‘colleges’: the State, unions, employers, NGOs and local authorities. For three months, workgroups met to propose concrete action to be implemented at national, European and international. These proposals were then opened up to debate by a range of public groups. Following this debate stage, 4 round tables were organised. In October 2007 the French President presented the conclusions of these discussions. The CNDDGE was later formed to monitor and assess the technical, legal and administrative aspects of these decisions.

The following topics were addressed in 2011:

    • Green jobs;
    • Biodiversity: advice on national biodiversity strategy; and
    • Transport: follow-up of the Position Paper on the Schematic of National Transport Infrastructure.

The CNDDGE meets at least four times a year, and if necessary as and when called by the minister. A meeting can be called by 2/3 of the committee members.