A painful defeat in France’s local elections this weekend showed the fragility of Emmanuel Macron’s party La République en Marche with less than two years to go to the next presidential election. LREM failed to take any of France’s large cities in Sunday’s second-round vote and allied incumbents elsewhere were swept from power. In Paris, which was supposed to be a showcase for the party’s disruptive appeal, its campaign was scuppered by scandal and infighting. Its candidate for mayor of the capital failed even to win a seat on the council. The only success for the government was Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s comfortable victory in the port city of Le Havre. It says a lot about the handicaps of Mr Macron’s party, which is split between left and right-leaning factions and has few senior compelling figures, that Mr Philippe is not even a member.

Three years after Mr Macron dynamited the established party system with his presidential victory followed by a parliamentary landslide, LREM is no longer the disrupter of French politics. That role now belongs to Europe Ecologie Les Verts, France’s Green party, which was the big winner in Sunday’s local elections, taking several large cities including Lyon and Bordeaux from entrenched rivals. In many places the greens had teamed up with the socialists, who showed signs of life after their recent collapse. But the greens are the force to reckon with on the left of the spectrum. If they can win over centrist voters from Mr Macron, they could seriously harm his chances of re-election in 2022.

Mr Macron understands the threat. His record on the environment has been weak since a hike in fuel duty — intended to curb France’s rising road transport emissions — was abandoned last year after sometimes violent mass protests almost brought down the government. On Monday, Mr Macron embraced a fresh set of climate-friendly measures devised by a citizens’ convention. He will earmark €15bn of public investment to reduce carbon emissions and offered to hold two referendums on environment issues, including one to enshrine its protection in the constitution. At the same time, he vetoed a proposal to cut the speed limit on France’s motorways, mindful of a potential backlash.