France is at a crossroads. With an electricity mix that is already largely decarbonized (72% nuclear and 27% renewable energies), our country has a unique potential to make a success of its energy transition. However, this virtuous base still only covers around 40% of final energy consumption, with the remainder dependent on imported fossil fuels. This paradoxical situation undermines our sovereignty, our economy and our social cohesion.
In response to this urgent need, Impact France's Cercle Énergie, which brings together nearly a hundred energy players across the value chain and throughout France, has published a white paper to mark its official launch, presenting its key proposals: "The historic opportunity for a resilient, fair and sovereign French energy model". A call to action that outlines the contours of a systemic energy transformation, based on three pillars: stability of energy policies, transformation of demand, and fair and transparent ownership of the transition.
1) Stability of long-term energy policies
- Consistent long-term planning: Stabilize the energy strategy around the 2030, 2035 and 2050 targets through clear, integrated planning led by a single player, to guarantee the necessary visibility for investment and put an end to regulatory stop-and-go.
- Strengthen infrastructures and energy autonomy: modernize networks to anticipate vulnerabilities (climate, cybersecurity...), reindustrialize key sectors and ensure balanced deployment of renewable energies across all regions.
- Support regions and skills: Create an "Energy Equity Pact" to finance local projects, adapt strategies to actual behavior, and massively train the workforce in areas undergoing conversion.
2) Transforming energy demand: towards electrification and decarbonization of uses
- Accompanying companies in their transition: Systematically assess their environmental performance (climate, biodiversity, water, soil) with an overall indicator of energy sobriety and efficiency; encourage consumption adapted to production peaks and troughs to balance the system.
- Promote low-carbon mobility and housing : generalize and strengthen the sustainable mobility package, create a tax-free "company train", and introduce stable regulations to encourage households to renovate their homes via a centralized aid platform.
- Promoting chosen and accessible sobriety: Promoting virtuous behavior and the benefits of sobriety (savings, quality of life), while supporting circular models and functionality to reduce resource use without constraint.
3) Fair and transparent ownership of the energy transition
- Adapt taxation to guide use and reinforce fairness: Modulate taxes according to the carbon content of energies, reduce VAT for low-income households, and engage in a transparent debate on the real costs and externalities of the energy system.
- Strengthen social support and targeted assistance: Deploy an "equipment voucher", expand and plan support for decarbonization (self-consumption, renovation, mobility), and modulate these schemes according to income and territorial realities.
- Inform, involve and create trust: Demystify the workings of the energy market with accessible educational tools, introduce a trust label for energy players, and involve citizens in decision-making through participative approaches.
A vision for the future: clear-sighted, ambitious, collective
This white paper marks a turning point: the transition to coordinated, systemic and inclusive action. The Cercle Énergie d'Impact France proposes not just technical guidelines, but a project for society: that of an energy model capable of combining environmental performance, social justice and industrial sovereignty.
At a time when climate inaction will cost far more than action (up to 20% of global GDP according to the Stern Review), it's time to make some structuring choices. The transition will be neither easy nor linear. But it is possible, if it is underpinned by stability, coherence and solidarity.
