Energy in France

According to the International Energy Agency, France has historically generated a very low level of carbon dioxide emissions compared to other G7 economies due to its reliance on nuclear energy.[1] Energy in France is generated from five primary sources: coal, natural gas, liquid fuels, nuclear power, and renewables. In 2020, nuclear power made up the largest portion of electricity generation, at around 78%.[2] Renewables accounted for 19.1% of energy consumption.[2] France has the largest share of nuclear electricity in the world.[3] The country is also among the world's biggest net exporters of electricity. The country is increasingly investing in renewable energy and has set a target of 32% by 2030.[4]

See also: Electricity sector in France
Energy mix in France
Development of carbon dioxide emissions
An electricity pylon in Les Carroz, France.

In its 2021 Country report on France, the International Energy Agency warned that the country is recording delays in terms of meetings its own energy and climate goals.[5] The IEA pointed to the rising level of carbon emissions due to the reliance on fossil fuels in transport in particular and to concerns related to the aging nuclear fleet.[1]

Overview
Energy in France [6]
Population
million		 Prim. energy
TWh		 Production
TWh		 Import
TWh		 Electricity
TWh		 CO2-emission
Mt
200462.23,2001,5981,633478387
200763.63,0671,5751,580481369
200864.13,0991,5891,621494368
200964.52,9801,5061,563483354
201265.12,9401,5821,470476328
2012R65.42,9351,5641,444482334
201365.92,9461,5851,442486316
Change 2004-20135.9%-7.9%-0.01%-11.7%1.7%-18.4%

Mtoe = 11.63 TWh, Prim. energy includes energy losses that are 2/3 for nuclear power[7] 2012R = CO2 calculation criteria changed, numbers updated

2015 fuel taxes, in Euro[8]
Diesel Gasoline Natural gas Coal Electricity
per unitliterliterm3MWhtonneMWh
Excise0.4810.6312.6419.5
Environment

Electricity
Main article: Electricity sector in France
Cattenom nuclear power station near Luxembourg
Wind turbines in Lower Normandy
The Cruas nuclear power plant at night

The electricity sector in France is dominated by nuclear power, which accounted for 72.3% of total production in 2016, while renewables and fossil fuels accounted for 17.8% and 8.6%, respectively.[9] France has the largest share of nuclear electricity in the world. The country is also among the world's biggest net exporters of electricity. The French nuclear power sector is almost entirely owned by the French government and the degree of the government subsidy is difficult to ascertain because of a lack of transparency.[10]

In 2010, as part of the progressive liberalisation of the energy market under EU directives, France agreed the Accès régulé à l'électricité nucléaire historique (ARENH) regulations that allowed third party suppliers access up to about a quarter of France's pre-2011 nuclear generation capacity, at a fixed price of €42/MWh from 1 July 2011 until 31 December 2025.[11][12][13]

Companies
Main articles: Électricité de France and Nuclear power in France

Électricité de France (EDF) is the main electricity generation and distribution company in France. It was founded on 8 April 1946 as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors by the Communist Minister of Industrial Production Marcel Paul. Until 19 November 2004 it was a government corporation, but it is now a limited-liability corporation under private law (société anonyme). The French government partially floated shares of the company on the Paris Stock Exchange in November 2005,[14] although it retained almost 85% ownership at the end of 2007.[15]

EDF held a monopoly in the distribution, but not the production, of electricity in France until 1999, when the first European Union directive to harmonize regulation of electricity markets was implemented.[16]

EDF is one of the world's largest producers of electricity. In 2003, it produced 22% of the European Union's electricity, primarily from nuclear power:

A report was published in 2011 by the World Energy Council in association with Oliver Wyman, entitled Policies for the future: 2011 Assessment of country energy and climate policies, which ranks country performance according to an energy sustainability index.[17] The best performers were Switzerland, Sweden, and France.

Renewable energy
Wind farm in France.
Main article: Renewable energy in France

With growing installed wind and solar power capacity, on top of preexisting hydroelectric facilities, renewable energy rose to provide 23% of France's national electricity consumption in 2019.[18]

Government policy aims to increase renewable energy use; in 2015, the French parliament passed a comprehensive energy and climate law that includes a mandatory renewable energy target requiring 40% of national electricity production to come from renewable sources by 2030.[19] A related provision of the 2015 law was the planned reduction of nuclear energy's share in power production from 75% (2016-2017 data) to 50% by 2025, but this was later delayed by ten years, to 2035, over concerns of carbon emissions, energy security, and employment.[20][21]

Policy instruments

Carbon tax

In 2009, France detailed a carbon tax with a levy on oil, gas, and coal consumption by households and businesses that was supposed to come into effect on 1 January 2010. The tax would affect households and businesses, which would have raised the cost of a litre of unleaded fuel by about four euro cents (25 US cents per gallon). The total estimated income from the carbon tax would have been between €3 and 4.5 billion annually, with 55 percent from households and 45 percent from businesses.[22] The tax would not have applied to electricity, which in France comes mostly from nuclear power.[23]

On 30 December 2009, the bill was blocked by the French Constitutional Council, which said it included too many exceptions.[24] Among those exceptions, certain industries were excluded that would have made the taxes unequal and inefficient.[25] They included exemptions for agriculture, fishing, trucking, and farming.[22] French President Nicolas Sarkozy, although he vowed to "lead the fight to save the human race from global warming", was forced to back down after mass social protests led to strikes.[26] He wanted support from the rest of the European Union before proceeding.[27]

In 2014, a carbon tax was implemented. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced the new Climate Energy Contribution (CEC) on 21 September 2013. The tax would apply at a rate of €7/tonne CO2 in 2014, €14.50 in 2015 and rising to €22 in 2016.[28] As of 2018, the carbon tax was at €44.60/tonne.[29] and was due to increase every year to reach €65.40/tonne in 2020 and €86.20/tonne in 2022.[30]

After weeks of protests by the "Gilets Jaunes" (yellow vests) against the rise of gas prices, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on 4 December 2018, the tax would not be increased in 2019 as planned.[31]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Energy in France.

References
  1. "France 2021". iea. International Energy Agency. November 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  2. Bauer-Babef, Clara (2021-05-06). "France trailing behind EU renewable energy goals". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  3. "Nuclear Share of Electricity Generation in 2018". IAEA. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  4. "Renewable Energy In France; What You Should Know". Hive Power. 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  5. Collen, Vincent (30 November 2021). "Transition énergétique : la France « en retard » sur ses objectifs". Les Echos (in French). Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  6. IEA Key World Energy Statistics Statistics 2015 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, 2014 (2012R as in November 2015 Archived 2015-04-05 at the Wayback Machine + 2012 as in March 2014 is comparable to previous years statistical calculation criteria, 2013 Archived 2014-09-02 at the Wayback Machine, 2012 Archived 2013-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, 2011 Archived 2011-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, 2010 Archived 2010-10-11 at the Wayback Machine, 2009 Archived 2013-10-07 at the Wayback Machine, 2006 Archived 2009-10-12 at the Wayback Machine IEA October, crude oil p.11, coal p. 13 gas p. 15
  7. Energy in Sweden 2010 Archived October 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Facts and figures, The Swedish Energy Agency, Table 8 Losses in nuclear power stations Table 9 Nuclear power brutto
  8. Michel, Sharon. ENERGY PRICES AND TAXES, COUNTRY NOTES, 3rd Quarter 2015 Archived January 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, page 34. International Energy Agency, 2015
  9. National yearly power generation by source, Réseau de Transport d'Électricité (Electricity Transmission Network Company) Open Data.
  10. Al Gore: Our Choice, A plan to solve the climate crises, Bloomsbury 2009 page 156
  11. Stefan Ambec; Claude Crampes (16 January 2019). "Regulated Access to Incumbent Nuclear Electricity". Florence School of Regulation, European University Institute. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  12. "EDF terminates nuclear electricity supply contracts". World Nuclear News. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  13. Fabrice Fages; Myria Saarinen (2019). "France". In David L Schwartz (ed.). The Energy Regulation and Markets Review. Law Business Research. ISBN 978-1-83862-032-5. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  14. Bennhold, Katrin (21 November 2005). "EDF shares fail to light up market". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  15. "Shareholding policy". Électricité de France. 31 December 2007. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  16. Directive 96/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (L27, 30.01.1997, p. 20)
  17. "World Energy Council". Archived from the original on 2011-11-20. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  18. "Renewables share in power consumption hits 23% in France in 2019". Renewables Now. 2020-02-11. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  19. Tara Patel (2015-07-22). "France to Adopt Law to Cut Nuclear Dependency, Carbon Emissions". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
  20. Geert De Clercq, Michel Rose (2017-11-07). "France postpones target for cutting nuclear share of power production". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  21. Sophie Louet, Sarah White (2018-11-18). "France to cut nuclear energy reliance by 2035: minister". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  22. Saltmarsh, Matthew (23 March 2010). "France Abandons Plan for Carbon Tax". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  23. Puljak, Nadeje (10 September 2009). "Sarkozy unveils new French carbon tax". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
  24. Kanter, James (30 December 2009). "Council in France Blocks a Carbon Tax as Weak on Polluters". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  25. Décision n° 2009-599 DC du 29 décembre 2009 Archived 29 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine French Constitutional Council (in French)
  26. Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose (23 March 2010). "France Ditches Carbon Tax as Social Protests Mount". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  27. Chrisafis, Angelique (10 September 2009). "Sarkozy Launches Carbon Tax to Help 'Save the Human Race'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  28. Taxe Carbone: comment ça va marcher Archived 4 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Tribune, 23 September 2013.
  29. "State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2018" (PDF). World Bank. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  30. Fiscalité des énergies Archived 22 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire, 24 January 2018.
  31. Macron scraps fuel tax rise in face of gilets Jaunes protests Archived 30 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian 5 December 20183.
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