STORY: :: French President Emmanuel Macron makes a firm stand against skepticism towards climate science
:: Monaco
:: June 8, 2025
“For several years now, we’ve been hearing that, ‘basically, climate change, the threat to biodiversity, the problem of the oceans, all of that is a matter of opinion. In fact, we could do without it. Besides, we’re not entirely sure’. And I’m even noticing that some people are cutting funding to continue research in this area. I’m going to tell you, ‘no’, we don’t have the right to do that because it’s not an opinion, it’s scientifically established.” // “And so it is a political, ethical, and scientific duty that we continue to fund free, open, and cooperative science, to continue to understand, research, and base our decisions on this science.”
Monaco hosted the two-day Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF), a prelude to the week-long U.N. Ocean Conference in nearby Nice, which starts on Monday (June 9).
The BEFF sought to outline financial advantages in protecting the oceans.
Macron spoke to an audience that included Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves and Britain’s Prince William.
He underlined efforts to promote sustainable fishing, decarbonized maritime transport, and green tourism.
This week’s U.N. conference aims to get more countries to ratify a treaty on protecting ocean biodiversity which currently lacks sufficient signatories to come into force.
