Did Emmanuel Macron keep his promises on ecology?

• Crowned "Champion of the Earth" in 2018 by the United Nations (UN), did Emmanuel Macron keep his promises in terms of ecology during his five-year term?

• In 2017, he pledged to close coal-fired power plants, reduce the share of nuclear power, deploy renewable energies or even increase the taxation of diesel.

• 20 Minutes

  dissects what the candidate did once in power.

We have forgotten it, but Emmanuel Macron was crowned "champion of the Earth" in 2018 by the United Nations.

Faced with an openly climatosceptic Donald Trump, the French president has put on the costume of an ecology defender.

But has the head of state kept his promises in France?

Closure of coal and nuclear power plants, deployment of renewable energies, taxation of diesel, renovation of thermal strainers, ban on glyphosate...: 

reviewed the candidate's promises before the 2017 presidential election. left !

“In the five-year term, we will have to close all the coal-fired power stations that still exist in our country.

»

Not held.

The Ministry of Ecological Transition has listed four coal-fired power stations whose closure was announced by 2022: that of Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), Saint-Avold (Moselle), Cordemais (Loire-Atlantique) and Gardanne (Bouches-du-Rhone).

The Le Havre and Gardanne sites were closed in April 2021 for the first, while the second was taken over by GazelEnergie in 2019 and converted – with difficulty – into a biomass unit.

The Saint-Avold plant, which is due to close on Thursday March 31, could restart next winter.

The Cordemais power station (Loire-Atlantique) will be able to continue to operate until 2024 due to the risk of tension on the network.

In addition, overseas thermal power stations have not been taken into account in this list.

According to 2019 figures from the Energy Regulatory Commission, the electricity mix depends between 50% and 100% on fossil fuels (coal, gas, fuel oil) in the overseas territories.

“It's not good to have 75% of our energy coming from nuclear.

I will keep the framework of the energy transition law.

I am therefore maintaining the course of 50% by 2025.”

Not held.

The Energy and Climate Law, adopted in 2019, endorsed the postponement to 2035 – therefore ten years later compared to the commitment of candidate Macron – of the 50% share of nuclear in the energy mix.

In February, in Belfort, Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to build six new EPR reactors in France, and the launch of studies on eight more.

He also defends the extension of "all the reactors that can be extended", beyond 50 years if possible, i.e. after 2035. He therefore keeps all the nuclear options on the table, an about-face in relation to the objectives of 2018 to close a dozen reactors.

"For the moment, he is keeping the most advanced option: that which consists of having 50% nuclear power by 2050, with the construction of new power plants to compensate for the closure of the others", denounces Zélie Victor, energy transition manager at the Network. climate action.

The objective of 50% in 2035 is "really called into question", she underlines.

Because to reach it, it would be necessary to close 14 reactors over the period, including 2 to 4 by 2028, in addition to those of Fessenheim.

"I am committed to meeting the 32% target for renewable energy by 2030."

Not held.

In 2019, the Energy and Climate Law went beyond this objective and pushed to "33% or more" the share of renewable energies in the energy mix in 2030. But, according to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, renewable energies accounted for 19.1% of final energy consumption in 2020. However, the objective to respect the 2030 trajectory was set at 23%.

France is also the only European country that has not reached its targets, indicates Eurostat, while the average share of renewable energies in the European mix was 22.1% in 2020.

"We missed the 2020 target," comments Alexandre Roesch, general delegate of the Renewable Energies Union (SER).

Afterwards, that does not mean that the 2030 objective is unattainable, ”he hopes.

This would require “accelerating on renewable heat”, that used to heat us, but also in industrial processes.

The Climate Action Network is more pessimistic and believes that "the current trajectory does not give hope that this objective will be achieved", due to the delay in the deployment of renewable energies.

“In line with the Paris agreement, we will ban shale gas exploration and will not issue any new hydrocarbon exploration permits.

»

Outfit.

The law prohibiting the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons was adopted and promulgated on December 30, 2017. “France is the first developed country to make such a commitment”, Emmanuel Macron then welcomed.

However, a week earlier, six decrees published in the Official Journal allowed the extension of exploration permits for hydrocarbon mines in mainland France, as revealed by

.

“To massively reduce pollution linked to fine particles, the taxation of diesel will be aligned with that of gasoline during the five-year term.

»

Not held.

 More than half of the price of fuel is made up of taxes.

It is the domestic consumption tax on energy products (TICPE) that Emmanuel Macron planned to increase over five years to align the taxation of diesel with gasoline.

Initiated in 2016 by the Minister of the Economy Emmanuel Macron, this increase took place in 2017. The 2018 finance law planned to continue this increase, but the movement of "yellow vests" put an end to it.

Since 2018, the TICPE has been frozen.

In March 2022, it stood at €0.69/L for unleaded 95 and €0.61/L for diesel, according to the French Union of Petroleum Industries.

Despite this difference in taxes, the price of diesel at the pump has caught up with that of gasoline for several months due to a higher production cost.

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