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Agenda 2000 EU response to the climate change challenge: the case of France Dinner debate organised by the European Energy Foundation at the invitation of ADEME 12 December 2000, Strasbourg   Speaker: Pierre Radanne, President of ADEME (Agence de l'environnement et de la maîtrise de l'énergie), the French Agency for environment and Energy Management. In The Hague, we expect contrasting conclusions from COP 6; however, EU determination to achieve Kyoto objectives remains unaffected and Member States are ready to adopt and implement appropriate programmes, essentially based on improved energy savings and further renewable energy promotion. On 5th December, the Directive on "green electricity" is on the agenda of the Energy Council. The Commission is actively preparing its first report on the implementation of the white book on renewable energies. In France, Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, announced the launch, by the end of year 2000, of a long term comprehensive energy efficiency programme . How EU and Member States policies can be translated into concrete actions at the level of local communities, of industries and of the public ? How to support and promote the best practices? How France in particular is going to cope with the targets set in the "green electricity" Directive ? How efficiently can financial incentive programmes, at national and at EU level, be enhanced by nation-wide or EU-wide multimedia promotion campaigns? *** In his introduction, Pierre Radanne, observed that the greenhouse effect is as important as the industrial revolution was at the time and, more recently, as globalisation of the economy. Humanity had now realised that it had a duty to manage the planet. It was the greenhouse effect that had triggered this realisation. We were beginning to discover that there was a limit to the evolution of humanity – the absorption of CO2 in the atmosphere. This was becoming an international constraint and it is constraints which give policy its structure. The negotiations which began in Kyoto and continued in The Hague were designed to set binding targets for each country, beginning with the developed countries, which would transform our future prospects in this context. In the case of France, the aim was to stabilise the country’s emissions between 1990 and 2010. However, when its economic growth prospects were factored in, this would entail a reduction in  emissions by 15%. France’s position was made difficult by the fact that its electricity production (nuclear and hydro-electric) already did not emit CO2. But by 2010, it would be emitting more (opening-up of markets and diversification of production towards natural gas). Consequently, it would be necessary to look to other areas in order to stabilise CO2 emissions: (1) transport, which is expanding apace and which uses up 2/3 of oil supplies; (2) the renewable energy sector; (3) behaviour of the individual. The policy to be implemented today would be quite different from those pursued in earlier decades. Effective measures would have to be put in place, beginning with those related to the market and ending with those directed at the public at large; Information for the consumer – establishment of a national communication service and local  services including “energy information” points in towns and at the disposal of consumers. This would complement the work being done by the European Union on energy consumption of appliances. Taxation: this is the route by which damage done to the environment by energy use can be taken into account in prices Banking mechanisms – making it easier for banks to support efforts to save energy or promote renewables Tariff structures – putting in place tariffs which encourage energy saving and the use of renewables Support for research Regulatory measures – the idea is to disseminate best practice, for example in the building of new homes; the intention is to review the rules and regulations in this sector every five years. Subsidies - for instance, an effort needs to be made to bring about a shift from road to rail transport. Road transport, via the taxes it pays, covers only half of the charge it represents to the public purse. The alternatives must therefore be subsidised. In the case of France, the effort involved is equivalent to 20 billion FF (3 billion Euros). The state alone cannot carry out all of the investment which is needed. The ensuing debate clarified a number of issues. If our societies are to agree to a reduction of 20 to 25% in CO2 emissions over the period 1990 to 2010, there will have to be a democratic dialogue between moral imperatives and development imperatives. The rest of the world will also have to participate, since the EU is responsible for only 13% of greenhouse gas emissions. A European directive might offer a way of preventing local authorities from blocking projects of general interest aimed at fostering the development and more widespread use of certain technologies. The question of nuclear energy, the factor which prevents France from being among today’s heavy polluters, is very much on the agenda. Pierre Radanne’s view is that  by the time France’s nuclear plants come to the end of their working lives appropriate measures will have to have been taken to ensure that a real choice – nuclear or non-nuclear - exists as regards their replacement, without departing from the obligations laid down in Kyoto.