France readies to integrate EU climate targets into its energy strategy - EURACTIV

France readies to integrate EU climate targets into its energy strategy - EURACTIV.com
By Paul Messad | EURACTIV France | translated by Daniel Eck Est. 5min 15-09-2023 (updated: 15-09-2023 ) Content-Type: News News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The French report envisages a 25-30% reduction in energy consumption by 2030, twice the target set in the latest National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) submitted to the European Commission in 2021. EPA-EFE/STEPHANE MAHE / POOL MAXPPP OUT [EPA-EFE/STEPHANE MAHE / POOL MAXPPP OUT] EURACTIV is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: FrançaisPrint Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Paris will incorporate EU climate targets in its upcoming environmental and energy planning laws, Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher’s entourage said this week, playing down delays in submitting France’s updated National Energy and Climate Plan to Brussels. Read the original French story here. In the past four years, the EU has set itself the goal of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030 and achieving a renewable energy share of 42.5% by the same date while reducing energy consumption by 11.7%. These objectives must now be reflected into national legislation, and France is preparing to update its energy and climate programming law to this effect. A proposal to revise the French law was originally scheduled for the summer but was later postponed to the autumn as seven consultative groups bringing together political, economic and civil society organisations were tasked to make recommendations to the government. Those working groups presented their early recommendations to Pannier-Runacher on Tuesday (12 September). And their first conclusion is clear: France must electrify its energy mix while reducing energy consumption. To this end, the report envisages a 25-30% reduction in energy consumption by 2030, twice the target set in the latest National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) submitted to the European Commission in 2021. Meanwhile, renewable electricity and heat consumption are set to rise by 30% and 60% respectively by 2022, the figures show. To achieve these objectives, the recommendations state a few priorities: energy sufficiency, energy efficiency, developing nuclear and renewable energy, maintaining thermal backup capacity, and promoting innovation and decentralised decision-making. Energy sufficiency, a French political concept still misunderstood in Europe France has made energy sufficiency – the deliberate reduction of energy consumption – one of the three pillars of its decarbonisation strategy, alongside nuclear and renewables. However, Brussels and other European capitals have yet to fully embrace the approach. Doubling wind, quadrupling solar In figures, these priorities mean an increase in offshore wind power from 0.5 GW in 2022 to 18 GW in 2030. Onshore wind capacity is set to double from 21GW in 2022 to 35GW in 2030, while photovoltaic capacity is set to triple or even quadruple from 16GW to 60GW by 2030. Although not all the details have been worked out yet, this is “the most serious and clearest ecological planning exercise, especially in terms of energy, that has been carried out in a long time,” said Pannier-Runacher. “As far as I know, I have no European colleagues with the same depth of work,” she added. At the same time, Pannier-Runacher’s office “confirmed” to Euractiv France that the plan currently being prepared will take into account the EU objectives voted on in recent months. However, environmental organisations have mixed views on the matter. Firstly, “the targets announced for each sector, even if they have been strengthened, seem insufficient to achieve the new overall objective at European level” of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55%, said Anne Bringault from Climate Action Network. A similar observation applies to renewable energy: “Few new measures have been announced to speed things up. It therefore seems difficult to achieve the European targets as they stand,” she told Euractiv. Meanwhile, France is still lagging behind the renewable energy deployment targets set by the EU for 2020. France in talks with EU Commission to avoid renewable energy fines Paris is in talks with the European Commission to avoid penalties for having missed its 2020 objective under the EU’s renewable energy directive and failing to make up for the shortfall. Discourse must be ‘truthful’ Those difficulties were acknowledged by Antoine Armand, a centrist lawmaker chairing the seven working groups, who insisted that the conclusions presented thus far were not definitive. “We are not trying to sugar-coat the situation,” Armand told Euractiv at a meeting organised by the French Association of Energy Journalists on Monday (11 September). For example, “we are not yet able to fully document the model for reducing energy consumption that needs to be implemented,” he explained. To meet the targets set at the EU level, “the impetus must therefore be political and local”, for example, by allowing climate and energy policies to be tested in pilot areas, he continued. He added that the discourse must be “truthful” and not hide the delay in the legislative timetable. The law on energy and climate programming and the two other texts that complement it – the National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC) and the Multiannual Energy Programme (PPE) – have been postponed several times since last July. Given the delay, it is unlikely that the French laws will be updated before the end of the autumn or even the end of the year, according to several sources close to the matter. However, officials say this will not hamper the adoption of France’s next National Energy and Climate Plan for the 2023-2030 period, due to be submitted to the European Commission in June. Indeed, since the NECP process is “independent of the [French] law”, the updated national plan could be submitted to Brussels before the trio of French texts are adopted, the minister’s office pointed out. Europe risks missing 2030 climate goal, EU auditors warn EU countries have so far filed only vague plans to meet their climate targets, with early indications pointing to a significant financing gap to meet the EU’s objective of reducing emissions 55% below 1990 levels by 2030, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said in a new report on Monday (26 June). [Edited by Frédéric Simon/Alice Taylor] Read more with EURACTIV EU parliament backs plans to secure raw materials supplyThe European Parliament approved plans to secure the EU its own supply of critical raw materials Thursday (14 September), as Brussels seeks to reduce its dependence on China for key minerals needed for green and digital technologies. Languages: FrançaisPrint Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Topics 2030 climate targets Agnès Pannier-Runacher Antoine Armand Energy Energy & Environment France National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs)