State of the art

With the Kyoto protocol, France engaged in a stabilisation of its greenhouse gas emissions relative to 1990 as part of an 8% reduction in emissions of the European Union.

At national level, the government adopted, in July 2004, the Climate Protection Plan, which includes a set of measures reflecting the commitment to stabilize emissions of greenhouse gas emissions in France. Main actions are the promotion of biofuels, reinforcement of the credit tax for energy savings and renewable energy in housing and development of energy labels. The climate plan was revised in 2006.

French Energy law (July 13, 2005) defined the direction of French energy policy before the “Grenelle de l’Environnement”. This law identifies five objectives :
 reach the annual rate of decline in final energy intensity to 2% by 2015 ;
 reduce by 3% per year the emissions of greenhouse gas to achieve an overall division by four of the total national emissions by 2050 ;
 raise production of renewable electricity up to 21% of national consumption in 2010 ;
 encourage development of renewable thermal energy to allow by 2010 a 50% increase of heat production from renewable sources ;
 reach 7% of biofuels and other renewable fuels by décembre 2010.

July 6, 2007, has launched the "Grenelle of the environment” organized around six working groups each comprising state, local governments, unions, corporations and associations. One of the working groups is “Fight against climate change and controlling energy demand”. One of the priority programs of the Grenelle of the environment is the reduction of energy consumption. Thus operational committees were tasked to make proposals for new buildings, private buildings, public buildings, public housing and on sustainable consumption, including energy-efficient products. Furthermore, the Operational Committee No. 10 was specifically devoted to renewable energy.

Download here the national state of the art for solar urban planning in France.