Renewable energy bill: the Collective for Citizen Energy publishes a White Paper on the occasion of the Council of Ministers

The Collective for Citizen Energy, which brings together 13 structures committed to energy and ecological transition1, is present upstream its white paper for the development of local and citizen renewable energies by 2030. It includes five measures focused on the participation of local actors in renewable energy projects, which would make it possible to raise the ambition of the bill; certain shortcomings preventing it, according to the Collective, from being up to the immense stakes of the sector.

A formidable lever for accelerating the energy transition, citizen energy must be supported in public policies. It is a question of giving citizens and communities a real power to act, facilitating the appropriation and territorial planning of renewable energies, and allowing better economic spinoffs in the territories.

To achieve the government's objective of 1 new citizen energy projects by 000, the measures proposed in the bill remain insufficient. Other complementary measures, proposed in the White Paper, must be integrated in order to reach this objective, and go beyond it.

Through its White Paper, the Collective for Citizen Energy formulates proposals and identifies concrete levers to support the development of citizen energy and promote energy democracy over the coming years in France:

1. Consolidate the national goal of 1 new citizen energy projects by 000 and make it operational through an inter-ministerial roadmap, combining up-to-date territorial resources and national management.
2. Adapt support systems for local and citizen projects, through the extension of the open window, the territorialization of support systems and increasing incentives for local governance.
3. Support and facilitate innovative and emerging models, whether over-the-counter contracts (PPA) or collective self-consumption.
4. Increase the power to act of local actors, by strengthening the human and budgetary resources allocated to territorial engineering and support networks, and by removing the regulatory obstacles to local authority investment.
5. Encourage citizen engagement and encourage education around the energy transition, through information campaigns and the regulatory simplification of raising citizen savings.

^[1] The CLER, Shared Energy, Enercoop, the Climate Action Network, France Nature Environnement, Foundation for Nature and Man, Energy Cities, Greenpeace, WWF, ESS France, Le Labo de l'ESS, FNCCR, Amorce