Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France's energy transition minister, has released France's energy and climate strategy for consultation. This 85-page document, which was presented on Wednesday, November 22, is due to lead to legislation in 2024 setting a trajectory for France's energy use. This major law will provide the structure for the third editions of the country's multi-annual energy plan (PPE) and the national low-carbon strategy (SNBC).
Today, our country consumes around 60% of its energy mix in fossil fuels [oil, gas and some residual coal use]. We need to bring this percentage down to around 40% in 2030 and 30% in 2035. This is a very strong rate of reduction, backed up by actual usage. From 2035, the sale of new combustion-powered cars will be banned in Europe, and fuel consumption will fall drastically. Similarly, there will be virtually no more oil-fired boilers.
On a broader level, the transformation to be undertaken over the next three decades is on a scale comparable to that of the first industrial revolution. The energy system must be rebuilt and its philosophy changed: Until now, it has been highly centralized, centered around a few hundred production sites and a few large companies that control it. In the future, tens of thousands of sites will be both producers and consumers.
As a whole, the country has managed to reduce its gas and electricity consumption by 12% this year, and this hasn't fundamentally changed our lives or the way businesses operate. It's a first step. More broadly, I want to focus the political message about reducing [energy] consumption on the benefits that the French [public] will be able to derive from it, rather than on the planet.
Switching from a car with a combustion engine to an electric car means massive fuel savings. It also drastically reduces air pollution, with an effect on childhood bronchiolitis or asthma, and even on premature deaths of people's parents. These are things that people understand very well. It's up to the government to make sure that environmentalism is not a luxury product.
We've also asked the big players and large companies to do their share. For example, only 6% of buildings are equipped with a building management system, which provides significant energy gains. I'm talking about ministries, warehouses and towers in La Défense [Paris' major business district].
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