France's farm minister has announced the country will delay pesticide reduction goals after failing to curb use of the chemicals as the original 2018 deadline approaches. The new target will be a 25% reduction in pesticide use by 2020 and a 50% reduction by 2025. Though reductions are voluntary, the Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood, and Forestry hopes to add 1,000 farming operations to its network of 2,000 farms using technology and biological controls to decrease conventional pesticide use.

Last Thursday, Paris was put on an air pollution alert as the city's worst smog levels since 2007 were recorded. According to Airparif, an organization that monitors the air quality in Paris, the pollution index reached the highest of five levels for fine particulates, causing the government to ask people to refrain from using wood fireplaces and driving diesel vehicles that lack proper filters. As the severe smog was brought on by a cold spell that trapped diesel fumes in the atmosphere, the pollution alert may reopen the debate over taxes on diesel fuel.

Spurred by protests from environmental groups, France’s constitutional court upheld a 2011 moratorium on hydraulic fracturing on October 11th. The court rejected arguments that the ban went against property rights and maintained that it is a legitimate means of protecting the government.

Experts determined that a nuclear reactor on the west coast of Japan is located on ground at high risk of an earthquake, beginning a process that will likely end with the first permanent shutdown following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Closing the reactor would be the most stringent measure yet adopted, though the industry currently only has two out of 50 reactors running as it awaits safety checks from the new regulator. The possible permanent closing of the reactor may signal a change in the way Japan deals with its nuclear industry. "It is no longer business as usual.

Swedish companies have sold about 200 tons of Baltic salmon containing illegal levels of dioxin in the European Union, breaching a ban on fatty fish from the Baltic Sea. The ban does not apply to fish sold directly to consumers in Sweden, Finland, and Latvia, but a 2002 EU ban restricts the sale of salmon from the heavily polluted sea due to dioxin's link to cancer and reproductive damage.

France and Spain banned bluefin tuna fishing for the rest of the season after the industry exhausted its quota more quickly than anticipated. Vessels that use sonar to locate the fish have become so efficient that they can fill a season's quota in just 10 days, and the limit was reached within the first two weeks of this year's season. Small-scale fishing for the tuna, using hooks, nets, and traps, will be allowed to continue for the moment. In the Pacific, bluefin found off the coast of the United States carried radioactive contamination from Japan's crippled nuclear plant.

France's highest court may annul the verdict against oil company Total for a 1999 spill. The case involves the sinking of the tanker Erika, which broke apart in a storm and spilled some 20,000 tons of oil into the Bay of Biscay, damaging coastline and wildlife. The top appeals court will rule May 24 on whether to annul the guilty verdict on the grounds that the tanker did not sink in French waters. The chartered tanker was Italian-owned, flying a Maltese flag, and sitting in an Exclusive Economic Zone when it sank, which limits France's jurisdiction.

Farmers and seed companies appealed a ban on a genetically modified strain of Monsanto's corn, saying the ban was economically harmful and unjustified. Agricultural minister Bruno Le Maire imposed a temporary ban on MON 810 in March, saying it was a "precautionary measure" to protect the environment. "This restriction does not rely on any serious scientific element, and maize producers, hit by (insects), sustain real financial damage," said French growers group AGPM, French seed firms group UFS, and the corn and sorghum producers group FNPSMS.

Energy Minister Eric Besson announced last week that a nuclear exit was among the options being considered in a study on the share of France's energy mix by 2050. Public opinion in France, which is heavily dependent on nuclear power, has shifted according to recent polls. Last month, a poll showed that three quarters of French people interviewed supported a withdrawal from nuclear power, while 22 percent wanted a nuclear expansion program. "We will study all possible scenarios for what we call the energy mix . . .

A French court has fined energy company EDF 1.5 million euros ($2 million) and jailed two staff members for hiring a security firm to spy on Greenpeace campaigners during an effort to build nuclear reactors. The court also awarded Greenpeace 500,000 euros ($700,000) in damages. The campaign targeted one of the European Pressurized Water Reactors, which is being built on the Normandy coast and is similar to the ones that EDF hopes to bring to the United Kingdom.