From January to September 2022, “a sharp increase in emissions from the electricity production sub-sector” is noted by the Citepa organization.
France has never consumed so much gas to produce its electricity. And this is not without impact on its greenhouse gas emissions: these have hardly fallen over the first nine months of 2022, according to provisional estimates recently published by Citepa, an organization commissioned to carry out the French inventory of emissions.
In detail, greenhouse gas emissions remained slightly above the 300 million tonnes CO2 equivalent mark and only fell by 0.3% from January to September compared to the same period in 2021. A moment during which France remained affected by the Covid, and had experienced a new confinement. “For lack of sufficiently reliable indicators, developments in the agriculture, waste and carbon sink (LULUCF) sectors are not pre-estimated in the monthly barometer”, specifies the organization.
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This stagnation is explained above all by an energy factor: in the energy production sector, emissions are thus 12% higher in 2022 compared to 2021.This is explained in particular by the shutdown of many nuclear reactors in 2022, which has led to the use of thermal power plants. This translates into a sharp increase in emissions from the electricity generation sub-sector», Analyzes the organization. Last week, GRDF even spoke of a year 2022 “record» in terms of gas consumption for the production of electricity in France.
The record of other sectors varies. Residential and tertiary buildings have managed to reduce their emissions by 11%, according to Citepa. A good result which can be explained by the mild temperatures at the start of the year, as well as by “calls for sobriety among public and private actors and households, has led to a reduction in energy consumption and electricity in particular“, notes the organization. In the same vein, greenhouse gas emissions from the construction sector have fallen, like those from industry, which have fallen by 5%, due to a drop in activity caused in particular by the outbreak energy prices andinflation in general“.
Conversely, the transport sector saw its emissions increase by 4%, with significant monthly variations: the summer months recorded an encouraging result compared to 2021, unlike the rest of the year. “Since the estimate of transport emissions is correlated with fuel deliveries, several factors may have affected their monthly variation, including the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on fuel prices and the measures taken to offset this price increase.“Advances the organization by way of explanation.
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These results do not bode well, as France is committed to reducing its emissions by 40% by 2030, an ambition that must even be strengthened to take into account new European objectives (-55%). France will therefore have to redouble its efforts to achieve carbon neutrality within a few decades. It remains to be seen how the balance sheet will evolve by the end of the year, while calls for sobriety and inflation have pushed individuals and companies to reduce their activity and their consumption. A trend observed week after week by energy players.