The announcement dismayed environmental associations.
The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire “assumes” and “demands” the withdrawal of the climate component and energy choices from the current “Energy Sovereignty” bill, affirming that he wants to take “the necessary time” to “dialogue ".
“The decision we took to withdraw this aspect of the energy law, I accept it (…) I demand it in the name of the time necessary to dialogue” and “consult local elected officials”, declared the minister at the opening of the National Council for Ecological Transition (CNTE), which must give its opinion on this text entitled “Energy Sovereignty”, in a speech transmitted by Bercy.
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The Ministry of Finance, now in charge of Energy, confirmed on Wednesday the withdrawal of this component, causing incomprehension and dismay among environmental associations but also in the Senate.
The project, supposed to set the course for moving away from fossil fuels, has in fact been stripped of its title I devoted to energy and climate objectives, that is to say: how many renewable or nuclear energies in 2030 and 2035, what objectives for reducing greenhouse gases and energy savings.
Favorable to the development of onshore wind power
Before the members of the CNTE, however, the minister wanted to reassure him of his “total commitment to the climate”.
“Is energy and climate planning necessary?
Yes,” he insisted, before adding that this was “certainly not being done in a hurry”.
“A text of law which would arrive in three weeks, passed to the Council of Ministers in 15 days, in which there would be ecological and climate planning, even though there is a new Minister of Energy (…) and that the discussions did not go through to the end, I find that irresponsible,” he further underlined.
Central axis of our decarbonization strategy, we presented the energy sovereignty bill carried by @BrunoLeMaire.
Our goal is to make France the first major industrial country to escape its dependence on fossil fuels and take back control of our… pic.twitter.com/OM66sHGEkT
— Christophe Béchu (@ChristopheBechu) January 19, 2024
The minister also wanted to reaffirm his desire to rely on “all carbon-free energy sources”, saying he was “totally convinced” that nuclear and renewables “are complementary”.
He said in particular that he was “clear-eyed about the fact that we must continue to develop onshore wind power” under conditions that are “acceptable by our fellow citizens”.
Since the appointment of a new government, the abolition of the Ministry of Energy Transition occupied by Agnès Pannier-Runacher has raised concerns among environmentalists and the renewables industry.
Bruno Le Maire called on the contrary to avoid "the somewhat idle debates on questions of scope on Bercy, which would be a kind of fortress hostile to the climate transition, when it is still Bercy which finances the climate transition".