Renewable Energy Act: “accelerating” is very insufficient

For Greenpeace France, this law will not allow France to catch up on renewables or meet its climate commitments and goals, notably by continuing to slow the development of onshore wind power.

This Tuesday, the National Assembly must finally adopt the government’s bill on accelerating renewable energies.
After several months of debates in Parliament, the ambition has not aroused in the Joint Commission: the text therefore remains insufficient with regard to the energy and climate crises.

If the text is more or less satisfactory on offshore wind power, it remains far behind and limited on solar power, and above all very insufficient for onshore wind power.

” This text is sorely lacking in ambition.At a time when the energy crisis shows us the absolute need to develop renewable energies on a large scaleanalyzes Nicholas Nice, director of the Energy Transition Campaign at the French organization Greenpeace. The government will bear great responsibility for France’s delay in achieving its targets, but also more specifically for the consequences of the great energy crisis we are going through that will have repercussions on our emissions and citizens’ bills. “.

The black point in the text is the regional layout. The veto given to mayors over the designation of acceleration zones, as well as the possibility of adding restrictions elsewhere, risks preventing any acceleration in the development of renewable energies, particularly onshore wind power. There is no guarantee in this Act to ensure that the Acceleration Zones will make it possible to achieve the goals set by the State in the Zones; Where is the consistency?

” The anti-wind ideology has influenced this law too muchNicholas Nass confirms. Instead of guaranteeing guarantees regarding the participation of local populations and respect for biodiversity, the anti-wind lobby and the alliance between the government and right-wing parliamentarians succeeded in scuttling the energy transition. “.
However, France has the second wind energy potential in Europe and the fifth in terms of solar energy.
However, according to the latest annual Observ’ER Barometer, France still lags behind its European neighbors in terms of renewable energies. These represent 19.3% of its final energy consumption, while the target set for France was 23%.