A situation linked to the unavailability of half of the French nuclear fleet.
France’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remained almost stable in the first half of the year, struggling to fall for good with an increase in the energy sector due to the shutdown of nuclear reactors, according to official figures released Thursday. “GHG emissions for the first six months of 2022 are almost stable compared to those for the first six months of 2021 (-0.6% difference over the semester), in total, all sectors excluding carbon sinks”, indicates Citepa, the organization mandated to carry out the French inventory of emissions.
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These are provisional estimates at this stage, he warns. But they do not bode well, while France has committed to reducing its emissions by 40% by 2030, an ambition that must be strengthened to take into account new European objectives (-55%). In detail, the various sectors of activity recorded very contrasting developments. The energy production sector thus experienced a marked increase of 7.6% over the half-year, and this “in connection with the numerous shutdowns of nuclear power plants in 2022”underlines the Citepa.
Use of gas or coal-fired power plants
France must indeed face the unavailability of half of its nuclear fleet currently due to scheduled maintenance or problems of micro-cracks that appeared last winter. As a result, nuclear electricity production should reach 280 TWh in 2022, a historic low. To produce its electricity, the country has notably used gas and, much more marginally, coal-fired power stations. These means of production emit CO2, unlike nuclear.
The transport sector also saw its emissions increase over the period (+7.0%), “with two opposing factors that may have entered into competition, the continuation of the post covid 2020 rebound of activity resumption and the energy crisis“, notes the Citepa. Conversely, the building sector (-12.5%) and the manufacturing industry and construction (-5.2%) saw their emissions decline, a trend for which Citepa refers to the crisis of the energy but also the milder weather, which has an effect on heating.