Energy sobriety plan: the government decrees a general mobilization

This presupposes a lasting transformation of our habits and behaviors. This is the meaning of the energy sobriety plan presented this Thursday, September 6, in the presence of the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, members of the Government, and representatives of the various sectors of activity.

Nine sectoral working groups worked throughout the summer to build tailor-made sobriety action plans, based on proposals coming from the field. Each group was able to come up with simple and operational measures, applicable in the very short term. Guarantor of the energy sobriety plan, the State must be both exemplary and leverage. It will play its full part in order to stimulate a collective and united commitment, which will enable us to achieve the objective of reducing our energy consumption by 10% at the national level over the next two years.

Action plan for a work organization that better takes into account the objective of energy sobriety

In a context marked by the acceleration of climate change, the scarcity of resources and the Ukrainian conflict, France's energy transition is more than ever a priority. France must get out of its dependence on fossil fuels and reduce its energy consumption by 40% by 2050. This notably means transforming our habits and our behavior in the long term.

You want to participate in this collective transformation and engage your company in an energy sobriety approach with the objective of reducing consumption by 10% by 2024.

The State accompanies you on the platform Les entreprises s'engage www.lesentreprises-sengage.gouv.fr/agir-pour/sobriete. You can thus voluntarily subscribe to the implementation of a plan of 15 short or medium-term actions intended to:

• save energy consumptions in daily operation;
• manage energy installations;
• support and rationalize all sustainable mobility related to the company's activity;
• lead vis-à-vis all internal (social partners) and external stakeholders throughout the value chain (from service providers to customers) - this energy sobriety approach which is becoming essential in all business models.

For each action, the company's commitment, adapted to its particular context, its activity and mobilized within the framework of social dialogue, allows it to access resources, guides, support and guidance systems, as well as than to be put in contact with counselors.

The platform also allows you to inform and periodically update your commitments by indicating the trajectory followed for each action using the proposed reference indicators.

The platform is also intended to serve as a center for sharing good practices that each company is invited to present and which can serve as examples and a source of inspiration for other companies involved in this approach.

Anti-waste actions

1. I apply the temperature instructions in my premises

By respecting strict temperature instructions in your premises and professional buildings and by starting the heating period at the right time, you promote energy savings for your company: 19°C for heating, 26°C for air conditioning, 16 °C for a building unoccupied for 48 hours (weekends), 8 °C for a building unoccupied for more than 48 hours.

2. I act on the lighting of my buildings

You can do this in two ways: by turning off the interior lighting of buildings as soon as they are unoccupied; by reducing exterior lighting (in particular advertising) and turning it off no later than 1 a.m. in accordance with the regulations.

3. I carry out an energy performance diagnosis of my buildings

By doing so, you identify the positions where you can act, such as the insulation of infrastructures (floors, windows, walls, etc.). You can also install technical management devices for your buildings.

4. I closely monitor my energy consumption

If you install management, monitoring and real-time measurement tools for energy consumption (hot water, gas, electricity, etc.), you will have a better knowledge of them and you will be able to do what is necessary to optimize them. Actions in favor of energy efficiency

5. I favor technical solutions that consume less energy

You can implement measures at several levels: in your materials (machines, equipment); for your telecommunications (terminals, messaging management); with low consumption lighting.

6. I develop sobriety clauses in my contracts with all stakeholders

You can commit your suppliers, sub-contractors and customers to energy sobriety action plans via the contractualisation of specific clauses.

7. I am developing an autonomous heating system

You can set up autonomous heating or heat recovery devices and install, when possible, heat pumps, photovoltaic panels on roof surfaces or wind turbines.

Actions in favor of sustainable mobility

8. I encourage soft mobility

This action can be carried out at several levels: by encouraging, as a priority, negotiation on measures aimed at improving the mobility of employees between their usual place of residence and their place of work, failing this by optimizing or creating with the trade unions a employer mobility plan (PDME); by favoring low-emission electric vehicles for your company's fleet; by offering soft mobility equipment as an alternative to the car or by making it available to your employees; by providing the necessary facilities at your business location and training in eco-driving for employees, by encouraging them to reduce speed when traveling on business; by setting up carpooling schemes and encouraging cycling.

9. I deploy sustainable mobility incentive schemes, in particular the sustainable mobility package

By developing the sustainable mobility package, you can encourage your company's employees to favor public transport, carpooling, or cycling for their home-to-work journeys. You can also offer employees entitled to a company car a mobility credit enabling them to use alternative modes of transport (train, taxi, bicycle) for professional and private purposes.

10. I optimize all business trips

You can group trips and delete unnecessary ones. It is also strongly recommended to give clear travel instructions, such as only using the air route when the journey time by rail is more than 4 hours for a single journey or 6 hours for a round trip in the same day. You can also favor commercial flights over the use of private planes.

Actions to boost the sobriety process

11. I appoint an ambassador or referent within my company or establishment

In each of your establishments, you can appoint an ambassador or a reference person for energy sobriety who will be in charge of coordinating, advising and monitoring the measures decided upon.

12. I educate and train employees in eco-gestures

Several actions can be implemented easily, such as turning off standby devices, including screens; optimize digital uses to limit the consumption of devices and servers (prefer audio to video during visio, archiving of messaging, freeing up space on servers, dark mode, etc.); give priority to recharging electrical devices during off-peak hours.

13. I define, in consultation with the social partners, a trajectory for reducing energy consumption

The objective is to present a trajectory for reducing the company's energy consumption and the action plan carried out in favor of energy sobriety to the social and economic committee or to union representatives. You can plan a sobriety policy on telecommunications, in particular with less energy-consuming terminals and a messaging management policy (avoid storing too many messages, sort and clean your mailbox regularly). Finally, you can also engage the company voluntarily in the EcoWatt system.

14. I initiate action plans to reduce the loss of materials that are energy-intensive

These material losses are a source of unnecessary energy consumption. They are also costly in the current context of rising commodity prices.