France does emit a little less per capita than many developped nations (25 to 50% less than most) but, without a doubt, we would have this discussion in a few years from now. In particular, France emits twice as much and five time as much CO2 per capita as China and India respectively. The same China that is about to pass the USA as #1 source of CO2 emissions among nations. We are also only talking about emissions produced on national territories and not that engendered by national consumptions whereas emissions have been outsourced to developping nations along with the productions of many imported goods. List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita

Moreover, France has fewer emissions per capita than most other developped countries (but not Sweden, Switzerland, etc ..) because of its extensive use of nuclear power. The generalization of this model to the whole world is a) doubtful, b) wouldn't solve the climate change crisis (see above), and c) would probably engender its own set of problems.