France drops renewables targets in new energy bill

PARIS

Critics are deriding as a step backward a new French energy bill that favors the further development of nuclear power and avoids setting targets for solar and wind power and other renewables.

France, like other EU countries, aims to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.

The proposed text, which is slated to go before the cabinet early next month and then be submitted to lawmakers, reaffirms France's commitment to nuclear power to ensure "energy sovereignty."

The country became a leader in nuclear power generation after the 1973 oil crisis, building over 50 such power plants that produced around two-thirds of the country's electricity.

But those reactors are ageing and France has yet to bring the first of a new generation of nuclear power plants online.

The proposed text affirms "the sustainable choice of using nuclear energy as a competitive and carbon-free" source of electricity, and targets the construction of at least six but as many as 14 new reactors to pull off the transition to clean energy and meet climate change goals.

But the proposed text sets no such targets for building renewable capacity, in particular wind and solar, whereas previous energy laws did.

The Ministry of Energy Transition said "it is false to say that there is no renewables objective" as the government will set the targets itself later.

But that pledge does not satisfy activists and experts.

"It's a terrible step back," said Arnaud Gosse, a lawyer specializing in environmental law.

He recalled that in a 2019 law, parliament stated the desire to debate the share of different energy sources in overall production.

"If you only quantify nuclear power, you do not know the share of non-renewable energies. As a result, nuclear gets prioritized and, depending on remaining coverage needs, non-renewables will be the subject of floating [future] decrees. It's no longer a mix," Gosse said.