France’s major energy choices, affirmed since the Belfort speech by Emmanuel Macron, in February 2022, were known. They are confirmed and specified in the French strategy for energy and climate, which must be made public on Wednesday November 22 and which The world consulted.
On the basis of this 85-page document, which is the result of two years of work and consultations, a draft law on energy production will be presented to the Council of Ministers. The parliamentary debate on this text will take place in 2024, at best, almost a year late: the 2019 law provided for the adoption of a first “Energy-climate programming law” no later than 1er July 2023. The third edition of the multi-annual energy programming (PPE) must be adopted immediately, as well as that of the national low carbon strategy (SNBC).
Behind this abundance of acronyms, this is the way to try to get France out “dependence on fossil fuels” – responsible for global warming – what this strategy describes. While oil, gas and marginally coal still represent around 60% of our energy consumption, their share should be reduced to 42% in 2030 and 29% in 2035.
First challenge
To achieve these particularly ambitious targets, the executive sets the first challenge of reducing energy consumption by 40% to 50% by 2050 compared to 2021. Between now and 2030, the rate of reduction will have to significantly accelerate. , to reach -30% compared to 2012 – the current PPE forecasts a drop of 16.5% in 2028.
For such a shift, the solutions rely largely on the efficient thermal renovation of buildings – so far very little implemented – and the electrification of transport. Now, sobriety is also presented as essential. It involves changing behaviors and individual and collective uses.
In the context of the war in Ukraine and the rise in energy prices, the French have already reduced their electricity and gas consumption by 12% between August 2022 and July 2023 compared to a reference period (2018). -2019), excluding weather effects. The challenge is not only to make this reduction sustainable, but to further increase the effort, without penalizing more modest households.
At the same time, the executive specifies how it intends to considerably increase the production of low-carbon energy. Electricity production is expected to become the majority in the energy mix, with growth of 22% by 2035 compared to 2021, and 55% by 2050.
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