Renewable heat: the forgotten element of France's energy strategy?

Carbone 4’s Energy Division is pleased to present the webinar “Renewable Heat: The Greatly Overlooked Element of France’s Energy Strategy?” following the publication of our article on this topic

- Decarbonizing heat production is essential in France: heat production emits five times more greenhouse gases than electricity generation.
Heat demand accounts for 45% of final energy consumption, and nearly 60% of this demand is met by burning fossil fuels (primarily natural gas).

- Biomass, which dominates renewable heat production, is essential (it is the main pillar of the PPE—the multi-year energy plan—for decarbonizing heat) but will not be sufficient on its own: carbon sinks in France have decreased by a factor of three over the past ten years, and forest biomass must not only store carbon but also enable the decarbonization of other sectors (construction, industry). These objectives therefore seem difficult to achieve simultaneously.

- Three-quarters of heating needs require temperatures below 100°C: renewable, non-combustion technologies can directly meet a portion of these needs, such as solar thermal and geothermal energy.

- France’s ambitions in this area fall short: the financial support mechanisms are not suited to the scale of the task, both in terms of their nature and their funding levels (the Heat Fund is underfunded).
The PPE aims for 38% renewable heat by 2030, but this target is insufficient to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Join the Carbone 4 Energy Division team for a discussion on renewable heat during this webinar.