President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to boost France’s renewable energy production as part of his government’s multibillion euro “France 2030” investment plan, including a significant increase in onshore wind and solar power generation by the end of the decade.
France’s reliance on nuclear power has meant it has lagged behind other EU countries in developing greener energy sources, with renewables catering for about one fifth of energy consumption. The government aims to double that by 2030, a move that has become increasingly critical since the invasion of Ukraine triggered an energy crisis in Europe. To support that ambition, the Minister for Energy Transition introduced a bill in September 2022 designed to speed up the rollout of renewable energy projects in France by streamlining the administrative processes and expanding access to suitable sites.
After intense debate, the Renewable Energy Acceleration Bill (Projet de loi relative à l’accélération de la production d’énergies renouvelables) was passed by the country’s lawmakers in February 2023 and promulgate don 10 March.
This Dods Political Intelligence report, based on bespoke client research produced by our French monitoring team, provides an overview of the new legislation and a range of political and stakeholder reactions to it including links to original sources.