Wood pellets: let's avoid drastic budget cuts

The consultation on France's energy future and the debate in the National Assembly on April 28th give rise to hope that decisions will be made in a collegial, concerted, and balanced manner. With a decree and a framework law, the State is equipping itself with what it has to offer: a multi-year plan that, on paper, guarantees visibility and stability for economic stakeholders. However, the decisions of recent months suggest caution...

Thus, at the beginning of the 2020s, the government encouraged our wood pellet heating sector to invest in order to expand and open new factories. This is now in complete reverse gear, with several negative signals such as the halving in the space of eight months of renovation aid for wood heating for individuals, or the lack of reaction from the State to the evolution of the European EcoDesign regulation on wood heating appliances. The mobilization of 80 parliamentarians from all sides and all territories will not have been enough to reverse the trend...

What does our government mean when it talks about a "gradual and moderate" reduction in aid? (Valérie Létard, Minister of Housing, in the Senate on 11/02/2025)

And these reversals have significant effects on the ground: slowdown in investments, destruction of jobs and businesses in the energy renovation sector, precarious balance of factories that have invested to increase production rates, doubts creeping into the minds of consumers, etc. The pellet boiler market is the most heavily affected by this climate of uncertainty (7.100 units sold in 2024, a 36% drop compared to 2023). Many projects to replace oil or gas boilers, essential to the energy transition, have been slowed or aborted in 2024. Here again, "green reindustrialization" is moving at two speeds...

So, is the sector paying the price for a policy of budgetary austerity? Looking at the several tens of millions of euros that pellet heating represents in the MaPrimeRenov' equation, one might doubt it...

Or is it paying the price for the "biomass loophole" policy? The argument is serious, but the State itself (through its inspection missions in a report published in November 2024) recognizes that its figures are imprecise and insufficient.

Instead of reducing the policy of encouraging our sector to a simple equation of resources - budgetary or forestry - let us take into account all the criteria and all the complexity of the subject; a contribution of expertise to the public authorities of which our sector is capable.

Rather than attacking new virtuous equipment when it comes to air quality, let's implement a major plan to replace old and inefficient devices with new, efficient devices, to improve efficiency and air quality.

Rather than relying on all-electric heating for the future, which we are never really sure will be sustainable in the long term, let's promote a diversified and virtuous heating energy mix, combining the qualities of different energy sources. From this point of view, wood pellets have qualities comparable to those of other energy sources (geothermal, photovoltaic or heat pumps).

With its 75 factories, 20.000 jobs, more than 2 million tons produced each year, and the trust of 2 million French households happy to heat their homes with pellets, our sector has a say in decisions about France's energy future. Let's combine our expertise to define the contours of an efficient and resilient heating mix. And let's avoid drastic budget cuts.

Tribune by Cyrille Mercier, president of Propellet (LinkedIn).