French President Emmanuel Macron has signed a pact with hundreds of companies as part of an ambitious drive to double the share of domestically-produced electricity in France's energy mix by 2030, from 30 to 60 percent.
Some 200 companies from across the French economy signed the national electrification pact at the Elysée Palace as part of an energy plan unveiled in February.
"This is a major transformation plan involving 6,000 companies and will create or maintain more than 600,000 jobs," Macron said.
France needs to make electrification "natural and desirable", he added, "because it's good for purchasing power, it's good for competitiveness, it's good for the country's independence".
In April, the government announced 22 measures to boost demand for locally-produced electricity, thereby reducing France's dependence on oil and gas purchased abroad at a time when the war in Iran has sent hydrocarbon prices soaring.
The government says it will double state support to €10 billion a year through to 2030, with the aim of reducing France's dependence on imported fossil fuels and boost the share of electricity produced from nuclear power and renewable energy in power generation, heating, transport and industry.
France is currently battling with one of the highest deficits in Europe and has little room for investment. Tuesday's pact therefore did not include any new government funding, but is built around investment pledges from the private sector.
Electric vehicles and heat pumps
Carmaker Stellantis will invest more than €1 billion to produce a new generation of electric vehicles at its plant in Mulhouse, eastern France, from 2029, the president said.
The announcement came days after the company unveiled a broader €60 billion strategy featuring 60 new models.
Stellantis said it was working with unions on the future of its factories, including the one in Mulhouse, but declined to give further details.
State-owned utility company EDF pledged €240 million to accelerate electrification across several fronts – preparing industrial sites for major electricity consumers, helping households install heat pumps, purchasing electric heavy goods vehicles and expanding public charging infrastructure.
Separately, EDF also announced €80 million specifically to help households acquire heat pumps – a technology Macron is keen to promote as a centrepiece of the transition.
Operators have committed to deploying an additional 240,000 electric vehicle charging points by 2030. Supermarket chain Leclerc said it would install 10,000 of its own by 2035. Transmission and distribution network operators, including RTE, have pledged to lay 45,000 kilometres of new power lines by 2030.
British energy supplier Octopus Energy also announced €150 million towards building a heat pump factory on French soil.
'Better late than never'
France is also aiming to double the number of electric vehicle charging sites, double electric radiator output and produce 1 million heat pumps, all by the end of the decade.
"Better late than never," said Green MP Benjamin Lucas following the annoucement. "The president has finally understood, after ten years in power, that we need to radically transform our society."
But, he told RFI, the oil lobbies still had the president's ear.
"He talks a great deal about ecology and climate but when it comes to concrete action – the bills put before parliament, the decisions actually taken – it's always the fossil fuel lobbies that win in the end."
(with newswires)
