Green causes are going forward in France as she is at the top of this most important Minister and I am sure that the many achievements of the Grenelle de l’Environnement are just the beginning for a more sustainable France.

During the Q&A session after the conference, I was able to ask her opinion on how the European Union could go for more ambitious emissions reduction targets.

To her, the Danish presidency of the European Union in the first semester of 2012 would be the perfect moment to try to do so.

Indeed, the current Polish presidency  is not really prone to go for higher targets as they are heavily reliant on coal for their electricity. But the Danes would be…

So, dear readers from Europe, we now know we have to push the things forward in Copenhagen in 2012. We will have to be very vocal on this so that our leaders – and especially the Danish ones – hear us. We will get back to this very topic on Monday, so stay tuned.

I would like to finish this post with an immense thanks to Madame La Ministre for answering my question and to her entire staff for their very warm welcome.

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“(…) Let us hope these new projects will be successful as the previous attempts at creating an solar photovoltaic industry in France have been a resounding failure. ”

” (…) In any case, we shall see whether these most ambitious objectives will be reached and whether sustainable jobs in the sector will be created. So stay tuned !“

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The wind turbines will be located in five main sites between Saint-Nazaire and Dieppe/Le Treport (all off the Atlantic Ocean shores). More wind turbines will come later to reach hopefully 6,000 MW of capacity by 2020.

I am particularly glad this becomes official as the Grenelle de l’Environnement has suffered many setbacks in the past few months, including the decrease of feed in tariffs for solar PV…

This project may lead to the creation of 60,000 green jobs by 2020 as the French government wants 25,000 MW of wind energy capacity by 2020.

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” The French Round Table on sustainability known as the Grenelle de l’Environnement is now three years old and this was the occasion for French government experts to publish an evaluation report.”

You know the tune : to keep reading the article, please refer to the full article there. As usual, please don’t hesitate to comment and share.

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As I wrote there : Although France has not been immune to the global economic downturn, the climate change plan known as the Grenelle de l’Environnement is still considered by the IEA as having “many positive provisions”.

As always to read the full article please go to CleanTechies. All ratings and comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to reading from you there.

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This is a fantastic opportunity since as I noted earlier the Boston Consulting Group believes the Grenelle de l’Environnement could create up to 600,000 jobs in France by 2020.

Among the companies present at this forum are Alstom, Areva, EDF, Peugeot Citroen (PSA) and GDF Suez, all major French companies.

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” France is currently thinking of enacting a carbon tax to increase climate change mitigation efforts. If enacted, it would be applied to the consumption of energy in general. ”

As always, to read the full post please check out this link. If you have any question please leave it there. I look forward to starting a discussion on that most interesting topic.

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According to an article [Fr] from the AFP, the installed wind power capacity in France reached 4,000 MW. In line with the targets set by the Grenelle, up to 25 GW will have to be installed by 2020.

To read the full post, please check out this link. If you have any question please leave it there. If it’s for a comment or a message of congratulations, please do it here !

Of course this article is the first of what I hope will be a long series. I will announce them here, so you won’t miss any.

Even better : don’t hesitate to subscribe to CleanTechies, there are many other people writing there on everything related to cleantech. I did so for months and always found there great stuff.

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Many many thanks to Ceylan Oney and the whole CleanTechies team.

–

Photo credit: Flickr/Gregory Tonon

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Les Echos [Fr],

The majority of the job creations are due to occur in the building sector as up to 20 million of apartments and houses need to be retrofitted in our country. The transportation and renewable energies would add  most of the other jobs.

But this study doesn’t stop there as it also notes that greenhouse emissions would decrease by 2020 by 27 % compared to 2005 levels, or 14 percent by 1990 levels.

50 percent of these cuts would occur by replacing thermal energy sources by renewables, another 25 percent of these cuts would be provided by the thermal insulation of buildings.

On the 450 billion euros ($620 billion) of financig required by 2020, 170 will be provided by the State at both national and local levels. 225 billion will be paid by the energy conservation measures and their savings.

As the study also explained the consumption of thermal energy sources (mainly oil and natural gas) would be decreased by a quarter. This is good news as energy prices are due to rise again soon.

All this occurs as French people are betting on green growth and green economy to get the country out of the current economic crises.

It is also worth mentioning that the eco-loans are a big success as 10,000 eco loans have been signed in the two first months. the French government would like to have 100,000 loans the first year and to stabilize to 400,000 afterwards. More at Enerzine [Fr]

Download the full report (2.0 Mo) via the official website of the French environment Ministry.

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(…) “  President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has said it hopes to shift part of French taxes from labour towards polluting goods, but consumer groups have warned against penalising families already feeling the pinch of recession. “

(…) “  The carbon tax is now expected to be rolled out in 2011, a year later than initially envisaged, Borloo said. ” Too bad the government back pedals on such a great idea from the Grenelle.

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Indeed, the French government will launch in April an eco loan of up to 30,000 €  ($37,600) with no interest rate to increase the use of thermal renewable energy sources and of energy conservation.

The energy and environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo expects heavy renovations to go above 400,000 per year, to be compared to the current 40,000.

As I stated in my Master’s Thesis published in 2006, such a target has to be reached if we want to insulate before 2050 the 20 million “thermal colanders” that need renovation in the country.

Mr. Borloo goes further in stating that each construction built prior to 1990 has to be renovated. This represents 27 million housings, including 15 individual houses.

As the French daily Le Figaro noted:

People willing to benefit from these loans have to choose two or three options among the following:

• Insulation of the roof ;
• Insulation of the walls ;
• Replacement of doors and windows ;
• Installation of a more efficient heating system ;
• Installation of a water heating or housing heating system with renewables.

By choosing two, one can benefit from an eco loan of 20,000 € ($25,000). Choosing three, one can get 30,000€.

To me, the most interesting way would be to choose insulation of the roofs and walls (more than half of the heat losses in housing) and installing a housing system with renewables.

Such a move would indeed enable households heating themselves with oil or natural gas to cut by a factor four or even much more their carbon dioxide emissions.

To Mr. Borloo, such a scheme would allow households to cut by 70 to 80 percent their heating bills.

This represents to me a huge step forward as buildings represent the first energy consumer in France.

Rumored to be a first in Europe, I hope such an initiative will quickly be emulated in many countries as home insulation gets the attention it deserves.

Banks will play a major role in this as they will be legally forced to propose such loans. With all the money they are given nowadays I guess this is the best way they can pay back the Society as a whole.

Households will have from ten to fifteen years to payback these loans. this shouldn’t be much a problem as the savings will be of importance.

And you, what do you think about this ? To me this is the best idea brought by the Grenelle, the second best being the system of feebates for efficient cars.

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This was the Grenelle de l’Environnement. But after months, only one conclusion comes to mind: the Grenelle is a disappointment, and this even with the billions of investments expected by 2020.

Indeed, the energy and environment Minister, Mr. Jean-Louis Borloo(above) is nowhere to be seen and there have been no major announcements that would look like a green New Deal.

For the past few weeks many countries pledged to create jobs while becoming more sustainable. Here is a non exhaustive list:

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First and foremost, the United States‘ new President launched a series of measures that are due to bring major changes to the country.

The new Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu will have nearly $100 billion at his disposal  to increase energy efficiency and the importance of renewables as well as other measures.

—

Similarly, South Korea plans to invest 38 billion USD (28 billion €) over the next four years.

These investments are due to create a million jobs (to be compared with a total population of 50 million) in renewable energies, efficiency and other environmentally friendly solutions. Learn out more.

—

Japan is also willing to create a million jobs (source) with environmentally friendly solutions.

The United Kingdom and Australia (alongside with the United States) will insulate millions of housings in order to create jobs and cut greenhouse gases emissions. This was the subject of yesterday’s article.

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It is high time for France to stop haggling about 1,000 projects to relaunch the economy with only 26 billion euros.

A lot of them are not congruent with the tenets of sustainable development: France doesn’t need new roads or highways.

Such sums would be better allocated to home insulation (twenty millions housings have to be insulated) or to renewable energy.

At the beginning of the Grenelle, Mr. Sarkozy wanted to become a world leader on climate change mitigation. Al Gore noted on that occasion that he wanted a Grenelle mondial.

Now, things have changed a lot and France can only become a follower. What a pity !

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An important part of this money will be allocated to transport and doubling the amount of fast train lines (TGV, left). Other major sectors will be renovating buildings and renewables.

All this should lead to the creation of more than half a million local jobs by the next twelve years. A most interesting news we will see in details.

Here is what Le Figaro [Fr] and other news sources like the AFP [Fr] note :

The State will put one fifth of all this money. Local communities, companies and households will bring the remaining money.

Housing and buildings

The largest part of the plan with 192 billion euros ($245 billion) and 235,000 jobs creation. 38 percent of all buildings will have to be renovated by 2020.

By 2013, greenhouse gases emissions of the sector will have to decreased by ten percent. 800,000 private housings will be renovated by then.

Transport

Besides doubling the amount of fast train lines that will represent an increasingly interesting alternatives to cars and planes.

This and many others projects like the promotion of public transports will create 80,000 jobs and will require 97 billion euros ($123 billion)

Enabling cities to decrease pollution and traffic congestion, this will bring large improvements to the lives of many.

Energy

Renewables will be put forward with 220,000 projected job creations and 115 billion euros ($147 billion) of investments. This sector is indeed booming.

Last important part, the protection of biodiversity will be allocated 23 billion euros.

All this is most interesting and I am dreaming like Al Gore of a Grenelle mondial.

What about you ?

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Yet, interesting ideas arose in the last weeks on reducing the light pollution at night and providing financial aid to those willing to insulate their housing.

The French daily le Figaro provide us more data on what could become enacted laws that would cut our emissions and energy consumption.

On decreasing the energy consumption of housings :

Jean-Louis Borloo, the State Minister of energy, environment and sustainable development proposed a loan of up to 30,000 € without interest. (edit : that’s 41,500 USD)

With such an amount of money, I have no doubt that most households would be able to insulate most of their roofs and walls, if not the totality. Payback would be achieved by the reduction of the energy consumption.

Many other ideas have been proposed, to learn out more on this, please check out the original article [Fr].

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Other idea proposed, reducing the light pollution and thus the energy consumption. This could be achieved if the law was enacted in October 6th.

This text would enable local communities to prevent, decrease or suppress excessive lights. For more, please read this article [Fr].

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Since this date, if you buy a car in France you may be the subject of a price reduction or an additional tax on your car, depending on its carbon dioxide emissions, and thus its mileage.

This mechanism was created by the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Energy to promote the replacement of older cars by new efficient ones.

Here is how it works :

If you buy a small efficient vehicle you can receive up to 1,000 € in rebate, and if it is a gas guzzler, you will have to pay more (it can go to as much as 2,000€, or 3,100 USD).

Normally, the tax payed on large cars should fund the premium for the small cars. The operation is such a success and so many people are buying small efficient cars that the Government has lost 200 million euros in an operation that was supposed to be even.

To counter this, additional tax will be put on gaz guzzlers and SUVs. This kind of cars account for less than a percent of total sales of cars in France.

According to the Financial Times :

France is to slap an annual green tax on high-emission cars, such as sports utility vehicles, and extend punitive taxes to more environmentally damaging products in an attempt to revolutionise consumer behaviour and combat climate change.

Jean-Louis Borloo, ecology minister, said on Tuesday that the government’s carrot-and-stick “bonus-malus” tax system was proving successful and would be accelerated. The aim is to cut taxes further on environmentally friendly products while raising them on the most harmful products. “This will be a revolution. We must impose a fair ecological price,” he said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper.

From the start of the year, the government has introduced bonuses for consumers who buy environmentally friendly vehicles and turn in cars more than 15 years old. These bonuses range from €200 ($316, £158) for cars that emit 121g to 130g of carbon dioxide per kilometre to €5,000 for electric cars.

But the government also penalises those who buy heavily polluting cars, charging as much as €2,600 for the largest SUVs. The new annual tax, which the government suggests could amount to about 10 per cent of the original charge, will apply to the most heavily polluting new cars sold from the beginning of next year. The government estimates it will affect about 1 per cent of French cars.

The governement is planning to extend this system to other products. I can’t wait !

In any case, be sure that I will keep you updated on that. So, for this and for much more, stay tuned !

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They can rejoice as the concluding speech by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been translated into English, Spanish and German.

You can access to the Adobe’s PDF full versions on the official website of the Grenelle or click on the links in the rest of the article.

On this webpage [Fr], I read a press release stating that Lester Brown met with Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the French State Secretary to the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development (MEDAD, in French : Ministère de l’écologie, du développement et de l’aménagement durables)

Mr. Brown is the founder of the Worldwatch Institute and of the Earth Policy Institute. During the meeting he expressed his willingness to organize a Grenelle in the United States. He is the second US personality after Al Gore to do so.

Mr. Brown (right) published a book “Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble” and is according to the Washington Post “one of the world’s most influential thinkers.”

From what I read from this book, I add it to my list of my books I have to read and will talk about it when I’ll have read it.

To conclude on le Grenelle, I do hope too that what took place here, and the decisions that have been taken, will see similar plans to be launched worldwide in the very next months.

Read the concluding speech of the Grenelle by President Nicolas Sarkozy :
Version française | English version | Versión en español | Deutsche Lesart

You can also access an article I did which gives the main decisions that were taken.

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The President Nicolas Sarkozy detailed in a 30-minute speech a very ambitious plan that concluded weeks of discussions on environmental causes within what is called here Le Grenelle de l’Environnement.

From transportation and housing to electricity generation and biodiversity, all major topics were tackled and dramatic shifts toward sustainability will occur everywhere.

This was a true international event as the President of the European Commission Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso was attending to this speech as well as Al Gore, and the Nobel Prize winner and the environmentalist Wangari Maathai. (Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2004)

The former US Vice President was very impressed by what the French government did in coordination with experts, NGOs and many representatives of the civil society. He stated his willingness to see a Grenelle mondial (in French in the text, a worldwide Grenelle)

The Grenelle constitutes an example as it involved many people. It also gives an idea of what a democracy can do when all partaking parties are gathered to discuss for weeks on specific topics.

Mr. Sarkozy wants France to be an example on climate change mitigation and the expressions such as ” ecological New Deal ” or ” Marshall Plan ” where said.

The original Marshall Plan enabled with just two percent of the GDP to rebuild Europe after World War II. Last year, Nicholas Stern stated that only a percent of the GDP would enable us to avert global warming.

To all the sceptical people, The French President stated that all this do not represent costs but the most profitable investment that can be done as it will create thousands of jobs.

Here are some of the main conclusions :

• More energy efficient buildings

While writing in 2006 my Master’s degree thesis, I discovered that the French residential sector could save huge amounts of energy and decrease in an even more important way its greenhouse gases emissions.

To act in this direction, the President advocated insulating older constructions and building low energy ones (50 kWh per year per square meter).

400,000 old accommodations will have to be renovated every year in order to reach a maximum energy consumption of 80 kWh per square meter per year. This has to be compared to the 260 kWh it nowadays consume on average.

All this will concern more than 30 million housings.

• Greener transportation

The fact that no more motorways or airports will be built and green transportation means will be promoted constitute the main point on this topic.

This will include the development of train or waterways for freight. Trucks will be taxed when using roads.

For people, up to 2,500 kilometers of TGV (high speed train) lines will be built by 2020 and more importance will be given to buses, tramways and cycles inside towns.

Furthermore, a tax for the most emitting cars will be implemented and low emitting ones will benefit from the money collected from this tax. This is a sheer revolution in the way of thinking as polluting consumers will give money that will go directly to the more ecological ones.

All this will be done to cut by 20 percent the emissions of this sector by 2020.

• A new energy policy

The conclusions of the Grenelle include recommendations to push forward renewable energies – to reach 20 percent of the total consumption by 2020 – and to decrease France’s dependence from fossil fuels.

Our country will continue to invest on nuclear as it is very important here and as it is one of the lowest emitting energy sources.

However, for each euro invested there, one will be given to the research on renewable energies.

To the French President, why would we have to choose between nuclear and renewables when we need both to face the urgency of the situation ?

I could’nt agree more as France benefits from a very clean electricity production thanks to nuclear. However it could benefit from renewables a lot more to answer its heating needs and the new rules are going in this direction.

To finish on this matter, energy efficiency of appliances will be strongly advocated and incandescent light bulbs will be banned by 2010.

• Agriculture and biodiversity

The main goal is to reduce by 50 percent the use of pesticides and the 50 most harmful substances will be banned.

The biological agriculture will be heavily promoted in order to reach 6 percent of surfaces by 2012, to compare to the current two percent.

To protect biodiversity, a network of corridors will be built between to allow wildlife to proliferate.

• International relation and business

President Sarkozy is willing to tax products coming from countries that do not respect the Kyoto Protocol (like the United States and China).

He wants to involve in an important way the whole European Union in this ambitious plan and will make the French Presidence of the EU in 2008 the occasion to implement all those changes in all EU

• Miscellaneous

One of the other main subjects was the possible creation of a tax on polluting energy sources.

This could replace the current taxation system. However, due to the complexity of the issue, further investigations will have to be done to see the feasibility of such a breakthrough.

More sorting out and recycling will be encouraged and incineration will become that last resort for waste. This kind of facility will have to produce heat or electricity.

• Conclusion

To infer this long article, the Grenelle de l’Environnement is only the beginning of this green revolution and the advances that were proposed today have to be voted and implemented.

The State Minister to Sustainable Development, Mr. Jean-Louis Borloo, wants assessments as time goes concerning the implementation of these bold policies.

Of course, I will write here about what will happen next in France and abroad as I have no doubt that things will move forward faster after that.

Edited on October 27th to add an element on the energy policy.

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