The presentation of the bill on the multi-year energy plan (PPE), scheduled for the Cabinet meeting, will be postponed so that “the bill’s scope can be expanded.”.
“The President of the Republic, in agreement with the Prime Minister and Minister of State François de Rugy, wished to strengthen the bill’s goals regarding energy efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” the Élysée Palace explained, confirming a report in *Le Parisien*.
The target for reducing energy consumption—which the government had intended to lower by 17% compared to 2012, rather than 20%—will ultimately not be scaled back. And the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050—a term preferred over the former target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a factor of four—“will be strengthened,” the Élysée Palace explained.
According to former LREM lawmaker Matthieu Orphelin, the new goal is now to reduce them by a factor of six. The wording of the new goals for combating global warming had been criticized by the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE) in an opinion released last month.
According to the president, we need to move faster and go further
A source at the Ministry of Ecological Transition, for her part, noted that President Emmanuel Macron had called for “moving faster, further, and stronger on environmental issues” during a debate in Gréoux-les-Bains (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) and that “the postponement of the bill and the amendments it is expected to undergo are part of this approach.” The source added that the planned amendments require a new opinion from the Council of State. However, according to the Élysée Palace, this “should not delay either the parliamentary schedule or the approval of the PPE.”.
The bill is still scheduled to be presented to Parliament in June. Mr. Orphelin, who left the LREM group last month due to disagreements—particularly over environmental policy—said that “raising the targets is a good thing.” “We must now give ourselves the means to achieve this,” said the lawmaker, who is calling on the government “to take major steps to accelerate the energy retrofitting of buildings, the shift toward clean transportation, and sustainable consumption.”.
“Strengthening the targets is positive” and represents “a step in the right direction,” said Anne Bringault of CLER (Network for Energy Transition) and Climate Action Network. “What’s missing now are concrete measures to achieve this goal. That’s where we’ll be paying particularly close attention,” she said, emphasizing the need to focus specifically on energy-efficient renovations, “since the building sector is the largest consumer of energy.”.
Whether or Not to Postpone the Nuclear Phase-out Deadline
Furthermore, “on the issue of nuclear power, we don’t think it’s right that the 50% target (for nuclear power’s share of French electricity generation) remains set for 2035 when we’re going to achieve greater energy savings,” she said. This 50% target was previously expected to be met by 2025 but has been pushed back by the government.
“We expect Emmanuel Macron and the government not only to reaffirm goals that have already been set, but also to propose measures commensurate with the climate emergency,” Greenpeace France said.
“When it comes to nuclear power, pushing back the deadlines by ten years causes us to lose even more time and exposes the public to unwarranted risks,” added Alix Mazounie, energy campaigner at Greenpeace France, in a statement sent to AFP.
Source: batirama.com
