Beyond being a tragedy and a major geopolitical upheaval, the Russian-Ukrainian war has had major consequences on energy prices in recent days: a barrel of oil that exceeds the symbolic bar of 130 dollars, one meter cube of gas reaching historic records… This major geopolitical event comes on top of the end of 2021 when the price of fossil fuels soared under the impetus of the carbon market and the global economic recovery . These data, revealing the strong dependence of France and Europe on fossil fuels, remind us how essential it is to accelerate the energy transition effort in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
To date, and despite France’s progress in decarbonizing the electricity system, more than 60% of our energy consumption is still based on fossil fuels, mainly petroleum products and natural gas. This represents a large part of our carbon footprint and creates a situation of dependence suffered vis-à-vis foreign countries, the harmful effects of which the news shows us.
While the climate impact highlighted by the latest IPCC report is certain, the economic effects are equally so. These fossil fuels, the price of which is strongly subject to geopolitical dynamics and a set of exogenous factors, reduce our margins of action and widen our trade deficit a little more each year. The observation is clear: In 2019, France imported nearly 45 billion euros of fossil fuels. This situation of dependence, critical for our public accounts, also does not spare the purchasing power of our fellow citizens who note month after month the increase in their energy bill.
A myth that comes to an end
The belief that these energies were plentiful, inexpensive, and convenient is thus ended. This dependence is triply harmful for our country. It is on the climatic level; It is so on the social and economic level; It is also so in terms of sovereignty. We must collectively realize what it means to depend on these energies and how we intend to get rid of this dependence. It is necessary to explain what is behind the gas pump, the natural gas bill or the oil boiler, what these energies cost us, their considerable impacts on the climate, diplomacy and the power of purchase.
We also need to be clear about our decarbonization trajectory, the collective efforts we need to make to achieve our energy savings goals. We must now move from a logic of additionality to a logic of substitution of different energy sources, and no longer oppose nuclear energy to renewable energies, electricity to biogas or energy efficiency to energy sobriety. Let’s have a global approach to the issues, far from the Manichaean visions of an energy system that would obscure the priority issues: carbon neutrality and our dependence on fossil fuels.
By 2050, to meet these climate targets, France must meet the immense challenge of reducing its energy consumption by at least 40%. This will involve multiple actions both in terms of energy efficiency and energy sobriety. Consuming less must now be accompanied by consuming better.
Decarbonize, the first of the fights
In the short and medium term, we must invest very proactively in all low-carbon energies to achieve our climate objectives and strengthen our energy sovereignty. We need to reduce our consumption and replace fossil fuels with low-carbon electricity (nuclear, hydraulic, solar, wind, etc.), thermal renewable energies (biogas, heating networks, etc.), hydrogen , to help decarbonize all of our uses. This challenge also presupposes renewing our energy production system, continuing to modernize the transport and distribution networks, developing our consumption flexibilities and our storage capacities, while guaranteeing the support of the population for this profound change in the relationship to energy, including in our territories. The essential agricultural sector should contribute, without conflict of uses, to supplying the energy sector and supplying the essential deposits of agricultural bioenergy. Finally, our objectives presuppose the continued implementation of an energy efficiency policy commensurate with our ambitions, particularly with regard to the energy renovation of housing and the modernization of our industries.
A general, strong and rapid mobilization is necessary to take charge of our energy future. Nuclear and hydraulic parks have already enabled us to limit fossil fuels in the production of electricity. Let’s write France’s energy policy together, by mobilizing all the levers, to completely emancipate ourselves from fossil fuels, in all sectors of society.
Let’s build the first independent nation using fossil fuels!
Signatories : Anthony Cellier, Deputy and President of the High Council for Energy; Christine Goubet-Milhaud, President of the French Electricity Union (UFE); Jean-Louis Bal, President of the Renewable Energies Syndicate (SER); Marianne Laigneau, Chairman of the Management Board of ENEDIS; Daniel Bour, President of Enerplan; Anne-Catherine de Tourtier, President of France Énergie Éolienne (FEE); Pierre de Montlivault, President of the Federation of Energy and Environment Services (FEDENE); Valérie Faudon, General Delegate of the French Nuclear Energy Company (SFEN); Nicolas Goldberg, Senior Manager Energy at Colombus Consulting; Cécile Arbouille, General Delegate of the Group of French Nuclear Energy Industrialists (GIFEN); Philippe Boucly, President of France Hydrogène; Didier Rebischung, President of the National Union of Local Electricity and Gas Companies (UNELEG); Natacha Hakwik, President of the Union for Intelligent and Optimized Energy Consumption (LUCIOLE).