The French government announced on Friday, March 3, 2023 in Poitiers its intention to cut greenhouse gas emissions from government services by a factor of five by 2050. The aim is to reduce the State’s greenhouse gas emissions to 2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, compared with the current 10 million tonnes per year.
The State will have to broaden its scope of action
The energy sobriety plan unveiled in October 2022 aimed to reduce the state’s electricity and gas consumption by 10% between 2019 and 2024. Now, to achieve its new objective, the government will have to broaden the scope of its actions, focusing not only on energy efficiency, but also on travel, public procurement, eco-responsible digital technology and food.
Residual emissions will have to be offset by carbon offset projects, so as to achieve the French and European objective of carbon neutrality by 2050.
Decarbonized energy production for public buildings
The state also intends to produce some of the decarbonated energy it consumes. On March 3, 2023, the French Minister for the Civil Service inaugurated the first of a series of 300 photovoltaic farms designed to power public buildings by 2025, on the roof of the DDT (Direction Départementale des Territoires) in the Vienne department. Forty-five ground-mounted photovoltaic plants are also to be built, according to Cécilia Reilhan, who is in charge of deploying the state’s 300 parks.
Considerable effort required for carbon offsetting
As this is a relatively new subject for the administration, the French government still has a considerable amount of work to do on carbon offsetting. This production of renewable energy does not, however, amount to “a right to consume” for the agents who benefit from it, warns Ms. Reilhan, pointing to the risk of a “rebound effect” in consumption.
10% reduction in state energy consumption
According to figures from the French Ministry of the Civil Service, based on a sample of 10,000 public buildings which account for three quarters of the State’s energy consumption, the State’s energy consumption fell by 10% year-on-year, more for gas (-12%) than for electricity (-8%). The figures cover the period from November 2022 to January 2023, which the Ministry has compared with the same period in 2021-2022.
