Electrification plan: a shock weaning off fossil fuels is necessary

Our dependence on imported oil and gas has serious consequences for the budgets of people forced to drive every day and for those in the workforce. To accelerate the phase-out of these fossil fuels, action must be taken on three fronts: energy conservation, electrification of uses, and the development of renewable energies.

Following the war in Ukraine, the Hormuz Strait crisis highlights a key issue that the Climate Action Network warned about last February in its report “Energy Sovereignty Put to the Test”: although very little of our hydrocarbons are imported via the Strait of Hormuz, its blockade weakens us by causing energy prices to skyrocket. For a self-employed nurse traveling 150 km a day, a 50-cent-per-liter increase in the price of gasoline costs €50 every 10 days.

Maintaining the current place of fossil fuels in the French economy means exposing households that are forced to consume oil or gas to the brutal and erratic variations in their international prices.

After two years of setbacks in public policies supporting the ecological transition, the impact of which is reflected in the cost of this new energy crisis, the Climate Action Network expects swift and ambitious action from the Lecornu government. To move away from fossil fuels, France must combine the anvil of energy conservation with the hammer of electrification made possible by the development of renewable energies. The plan outlined by Sébastien Lecornu aims to rapidly replace oil and gas with electricity, which is absolutely essential. But this plan will only succeed if it provides the necessary resources to achieve its ambition.

The challenge regarding mobility is twofold. An ambitious plan must both reduce car dependency and improve access to electric vehicles for those who do not yet have an alternative. In concrete terms, this requires increased investment in rail and cycling infrastructure, as well as public transport services. At the same time, targeted support must enable the most vulnerable households to access electric vehicles. Expanding social leasing and reinstating the scrappage bonus, including for the used car market, are essential tools.

For housing, if the Government's plan focuses solely on installing heat pumps, which are more efficient than gas boilers, it will miss its target because building insulation is also essential. The less insulated a home is, the more powerful, and therefore more expensive, the heat pump needs to be. Rapid and accessible electrification of housing, leaving no one behind, must not come at the expense of building insulation.

The financing of this plan will also be crucial to ensuring that the resources allocated are consistent with the objectives of reducing the share of fossil fuels in energy consumption. The 2026 budget championed by Sébastien Lecornu falls far short of these ambitions. The announced use of potential tax surpluses linked to rising fuel prices is a step in the right direction, but will be insufficient to meet the necessary investments. While oil and gas companies are reaping exorbitant profits due to rising oil and gas prices, taxing these windfall profits is a matter of tax fairness.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.