France must not cave to Brussels on renewables, says ex-energy minister Pannier-Runacher

France should continue refusing to include renewable targets in its energy-climate plan, which will be submitted to the European Commission in June, the country’s former energy minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said this week.

Read the original French article here.

This back-and-forth about including renewable targets in the energy-climate plan has been going on since last November when France submitted its National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) to the Commission. This laid out its climate and energy targets for the coming years but did not include any renewable targets.

Targets, as required by the latest version of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III), will target  EU countries with collectively achieving 42.5% of the EU’s gross final energy consumption from renewables by 2030. Its adoption in March 2023 was supported by France.

The target is an overall goal for Europe, so some states have higher or lower targets depending on their capacities. France’s target is a minimum of 44% renewable energy by 2030.

However, such a target would be pointless according to Pannier-Runacher, who as Frances’s energy transition minister, negotiating the RED revision and the NECP.

“We end up getting hung up on things that are sometimes totems, and we lose sight of the objective”, said Pannier-Runacher in reference to reducing “greenhouse gas emissions” at an event organised on Tuesday by the think tank Équilibre des énergies.

The European Commission, meanwhile, remains committed to these objectives.

In mid-February, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson once again urged France to update its renewable targets, having indicated the need to do so in mid-December.

Simson said, “France must considerably raise its ambition in terms of renewable energy sources to at least 44%”.

In response, the French authorities persisted in their refusal.

A long-running debate

As late as 2023, France was still not on track to meet the target of 23% renewables by 2020, set in the second version of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II).

France’s current Economy and Energy Minister, Bruno Le Maire, recently denounced “the Europe we no longer want, which sets targets that are too restrictive and which are not satisfactory climate targets”, ahead of an EU energy ministers’ meeting in early March.

Moreover, Le Maire outright dismissed the possibility of sanctions against France for failing to meet its targets.

“France is not going to pay any penalties”, Le Maire said.

Pannier-Runacher is convinced that the solution is to respect “technological neutrality”, a principle enshrined in the EU treaties.

Technological neutrality –  an untouchable principle

“Technological neutrality is something we have to be untouchable about”, she said on Tuesday.

This principle is enshrined in Article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which states that measures to preserve and improve the environment do not affect a member state’s right to choose its energy mix.

Pannier-Runacher admits that France did not include a renewables target in the NECP “as a provocation, but also to stimulate debate”. She considers the issue “silly”.

In her view, which was echoed by Le Maire and ten other member states, the next revision of the Renewable Energy Directive should no longer refer to a “renewable” target but to a “low-carbon” target.

France is already anticipating this change as its NECP makes direct provision for such an objective, contrary to the Commission’s advice.

At the start of March, Le Maire declared he was ready to “find a solution with the European Commission”. On this point, “discussions are continuing”, his staff told Euractiv.

“The final plan is due by the end of June. We will not be commenting fully account for any contacts we might have with the French authorities on this matter”, the Commission said in response to Euractiv.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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