CLEW Guide – Government turmoil casts doubt over France's transition progress

• Under the government of new prime minister Francois Bayrou, the word “climate” has disappeared from the title of the Minister for Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The subject of energy, which was her responsibility, has now been entrusted to the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. Bayrou’s general policy speech on 14 January was judged by many analysts to be extremely weak on ecological and climate issues. His predecessor Barnier – a pro-nuclear policy advocate and wind power critic from the conservative The Republicans (LR) party – had been appointed prime minister on 5 September but did not last long, with his government collapsing two months later over a budget row. Bayrou's new government managed to adopt a new budget in February 2025 by decree and survived a following vote of no-confidence despite lingering objections to the government's financial planning.

• The snap election in 2024 took many of president Emmanuel Macron's political allies and enemies in France and Europe by surprise and opened the door to what could have become the country’s first far-right government led by the populist Rassemblement National (RN) party. However, RN only came in 3rd, while a new alliance on the left (New Popular Front) came in first, which is in favour of the ecological and climatic transition, although their leaders can be divided on the means and in particular the role of nuclear power.

• France, like all other EU member states, is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, which accounted for almost half of its primary energy consumption in 2023, with oil accounting for 30 percent and natural gas for 13 percent. Coal plays a minor role. Nuclear energy accounted for about 40 percent, renewables for 16 percent. Primary energy production in 2023 was 13.3 percent higher than in 2022, due in particular to the rebound in nuclear production. Energy-related CO2 emissions have fallen (-5.9%), mainly due to a very significant drop in the consumption of fossil fuels, particularly natural gas. Primary production of renewable electricity rose sharply (+27.4%), due to a significant increase in installed capacity and more favourable weather conditions.

• Greenhouse gas emissions stopped falling in France. They were virtually stable (+0.2%) in the first quarter of 2025 and might fall only by 0.8 percent until the end of the year, according to provisional data from the French environment ministry’s independent emissions reporting organisation Citepa. If confirmed, this would be the lowest annual reduction since 2018 (excluding the post-Covid-19 rebound), and totally insufficient to meet climate targets of carbon neutrality in 2050. In its annual report, the French High Council for the Climate regrets that the pace of decarbonization had already “slowed considerably” in 2024.

• In 2023, France's primary energy production increased by 13 percent compared to the previous year, making it a net exporter of electricity. The increased energy production came about thanks to a recovery in nuclear power generation and a surge in renewable energy. After being Europe's largest net power importer in 2022 on the back of unstable nuclear output, France became the biggest net exporter in 2023, showing its role as a key electricity producer in the 27-member bloc. With 89 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity exports in 2024, France beat its previous all-time record of 77 TWh set in 2002. But the rise in renewable installations means that nuclear's share of installed power generation capacity has fallen below 40 percent

• With around two thirds of France’s electricity being produced by nuclear power, the emissions intensity of the country’s energy sector is lower than those of several other European countries, such as Germany.
• A combination of infrastructural issues at its nuclear power plants and the energy crisis pushed the government to move ahead with legislation to quicken the deployment of renewables and accelerate the construction of new nuclear reactors. In January 2024, the French government said that the country needed to build more than 14 new nuclear plants – compared to the six planned so far. EDF has said that each could be built within 6 years.
• The roadmaps which together constitute France’s future energy and climate strategy – that is to say its low-carbon national strategy (SNBC), the PPE 2024-2035, the new planning law (LPEC) and the country’s adaptation plan to climate change (PNACC) – were expected to be adopted mid-2024. In October 2024, former prime minister Michel Barnier eventually presented the French government's first multi-year strategy for financing the ecological transition (Spafte). However, its national low-carbon strategy must still be updated. The government came under fire when it said that it would postpone the inclusion of renewable energy goals in its proposals.
• Experts found that France’s renewable deployment pace was too slow to meet EU rules. EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson urged France in February 2024 to “significantly raise its ambition on renewable energy sources to at least 44 percent” regarding gross final energy consumption by 2030 and specify clear targets in its National Climate and Energy Plan.
• The fallout from the massive blackout which hit Spain, Portugal and parts of southern France shows no sign of abating. The rapid growth of wind and solar power in France – coupled with stagnating demand for electricity in the country – is increasingly raising concerns over grid stability and potential negative prices in the future. This has prompted calls from experts and politicians to moderate the development of renewables or even stop their rollout.
• Launched in 2021, the country’s 54-billion-euro investment plan, France 2030, aims at improving the competitiveness of its industry, encourage investments and innovation and support the low-carbon transition, amid other priorities. The government plans to invest half of its France 2030 programme aimed at improving its industrial competitiveness for the energy and ecological transition mainly to decarbonise its economy. According to a survey by Business France, the nation maintained last year its economic attractiveness to international investors, who poured money into 205 projects that directly aimed at decarbonising its economy.
• France adopted a green industry bill in autumn, which aims at increasing finance for the green industry, facilitate and accelerate the setup of new industries, and develop brownfield sites, as well as making public procurement greener. A green industry investment tax credit (C3IV) was also created as part of the package.
• Following a series of heatwaves, floods, wildfires and droughts in recent years, France rebooted its climate change impacts adaptation strategy to include proposals for adaptation to 4 degrees Celsius of warming, the sign that the government is ready to prepare for the worst.

• Fossil fuels – According to data by French NGOs Data for Good and Éclaircies, France is Europe’s largest supporter of “carbon bomb” extraction projects, and – with 154 billion dollars – behind only China and the United States globally.
• Energy sufficiency – Following on from national efforts to save energy and avoid power cuts during the winter 2022, the government proposed an energy sobriety plan across all sectors to ensure further savings (e.g. higher penalties for high-emitting vehicles, speed reductions on highways, or limiting interior temperatures in buildings). However, France cut 1 billion euros of funds from an energy-sufficiency renovation scheme in early 2024.

• Climate activism - In a report published on July 3, 2025, the NGO Amnesty International denounced “the repression of environmental and climate activists” in France. It is concerned about “growing attacks” on freedom of expression, demonstration and association, and their “dissuasive” effects on climate action. Climate protests in France have been deemed more radical than in neighbouring countries, , especially violent protests over megabasins in early 2023.

• Nuclear power - Climate change creates challenges to the nuclear sector: As heat waves are increasingly affecting France, state-owned energy supplier EDF tries toadaptits nuclear power plants to global warming. At the beginning of July 2025, the national electricity company had to shut down a reactor at Golfech (Tarn-et-Garonne), to limit hot water discharges into the Garonne river. Both the French safety authority and the Cour des Comptes are urging the company to speed up its adaptation.
• EU competition rules - Hydropower is still France's second-largest source of electricity, accounting for almost 14% of production in 2024. In 2015 and 2019, the European Commission opened two legal proceedings against France for non-compliance with competition rules. Brussels is demanding that the major French dams be opened up to competition, but EDF (which operates the majority of the country's concessions) is objecting.A new parliamentary report published in May 2025 proposes solutions to this dispute.
• Power prices -In July 2025, the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) published its report on the monitoring and operation of the wholesale electricity and gas markets. 2024 confirms the end of the energy crisis of 2022-2023, with wholesale market prices lower than in 2023. French prices remain among the lowest in Europe (with an average price of €34/MWh, against 40 in 2023 and 113 in 2022).
• Climate investments - After rising steadily since 2020, public and private climate-related investments fell in France in 2024 said the Institut de l'économie pour le climat (I4CE), which points to a 5% drop compared to 2023. In 2024, 102.2 billion euros were spent in France on climate-related projects, compared with 107.7 the previous year. The decline was particularly marked in the real estate, renewable energies and transport sectors.
• Sustainable finance – In October 2023, French legislators backed away from compulsory “Say on Climate” measures which were part of the government’s green industry bill adopted in autumn and would have made France the first country worldwide to require listed companies to consult their shareholders on their climate strategies through such resolutions.

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