(Brussels, June 10, 2026) — French lawmakers should reject any attempt to authorize the resumption of exploration and extraction of oil and gas in France’s overseas territories, where new fossil fuel exploration permits have been banned since 2017, Climate Rights International said today. On June 11, the National Assembly is expected to debate a bill aimed at lifting the ban on hydrocarbon research, exploration, and extraction in France’s overseas territories.

The Senate adopted the proposal on January 29 after it was introduced by French Guianese Senator Georges Patient. The National Assembly’s Economic Affairs Committee rejected the bill on June 3. However, the committee vote is only advisory, and the Democratic and Republican Left (GDR) parliamentary group intends to use its designated parliamentary initiative day to bring the same text before the Assembly for debate and a vote.

“The National Assembly must send a clear and definitive signal that fossil fuels are the primary drivers of the climate crisis, not a driver of economic progress, and that authorizing new exploration and extraction in overseas territories would be a huge step backwards in the fight against climate change,” said Fabien Offner, researcher at Climate Rights International. “The science is unequivocal, the International Court of Justice has spoken, and the consequences of not rapidly phasing out fossil fuels are measured in lives lost, communities displaced, and ecosystems destroyed.”

Some elected officials in French Guiana argue that, like their neighbors Guyana and Suriname, large quantities of oil and gas exist in their offshore waters. However, the CEO of TotalEnergies stated in 2024 that “there are no hydrocarbons in French Guiana.” In France, an unlikely alliance has emerged between far-right lawmakers advocating France’s fossil-fuel energy sovereignty and left-wing overseas representatives who believe that improving living conditions in their territories depends on oil and gas development. They are opposed by various left-wing parties and Ensemble pour la République, the presidential party’s parliamentary group.

Immediately after the bill’s rejection in committee on June 3, the far-right party Rassemblement national denounced the decision. MP Alexandre Loubet described it as a “stab in the back” by “Macronists and the left” against “our overseas compatriots,” alleging that the decision “condemned France to dependency” and condemned overseas territories to “decline.” He promised that his party would authorize the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons if it came to power. During the June 3 committee debate, the Ecologist and Social group responded that the bill, “while claiming to support economic development, actually perpetuates a neo-colonial logic of extractivism by treating overseas territories as areas for resource exploitation benefiting outside interests.”

“The climate crisis is the present reality for millions of people around the world, including in France and its overseas territories,” said Offner. “French lawmakers should be providing leadership on climate action, not reversing it.”

In April, France introduced a new national roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels at the first international conference on phasing out fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, and called on other countries to do the same. On May 20, France also voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution, welcoming and affirming the landmark advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued in July 2025. The ICJ ruling makes clear that states have a duty, under international law, to prevent climate harm, and to protect the climate system and the human rights of present and future generations. The court specifically emphasized that fossil fuel consumption, subsidies, and licensing decisions may lead to legal responsibility under international law.  

The scientific record, confirmed by decades of data and the world’s leading research institutions, shows that burning fossil fuels is the dominant cause of global warming. The consequences are already being measured in human lives: record heat extremes, catastrophic flooding, intensifying wildfires, irreversible melting of ice sheets and glaciers, rising sea levels, warming and acidifying oceans, mass displacement of communities, food insecurity, and conflict.

“Instead of opening the door to new hydrocarbon extraction, French lawmakers should double down on what the future demands: ambitious expansion of renewable energy across France and its overseas territories, and sustained investment in programs, business models, and development pathways that benefit both people and planet,” said Offner. “That is the path to energy sovereignty, economic resilience, and justice for overseas communities, not the extraction of finite fossil resources that lock in decades more of climate damage.”