Mainland France is a high-income country in western Europe with the Atlantic to the west and the Mediterranean to the south-east. It has two mountain ranges: the Alps in the east and the Pyrenees in the south. Plains and hills occupy 2/3 of mainland France. It has four major water basins: the Seine, the Loire, the Rhone, and the Garonne. Almost 60% of the mainland surface is used for agriculture, however 77% of the labor force is involved in the tertiary sector (World Bank Group, 2021). France’s overseas territories are predominantly small island states in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean and face different vulnerabilities to mainland France such as exposure to cyclones and tropical storms (CCE). 

The number of natural events resulting from climate change with the potential to cause personal, property, and infrastructure damage is expected to increase in coming years (Ministère de l’Écologie, 2020). France is vulnerable to increases in temperature rise, heat waves, rising sea levels, uncertainty in the frequency and severity of storms, and intense rainfall and flooding (World Bank Group, n.d.). Indeed, in 2024 France identified more than 300 communes as natural disaster zones due to climate change-driven droughts and floods (EIB, 2024). However, vulnerability varies by region according to landscape and economic development (Ministère de l’Écologie, 2020). 

As an EU member state, France does not have its own nationally determined contribution but is rather part of the EU’s NDC.