It’s the return of the “waste hunt”! It was then in 1973 with the first oil shock. The French discovered the first speeches by politicians live on television, asking them to reduce their energy consumption. It is thus Georges Pompidou who calls then “to the spirit of economy of the French people”: “Let’s save gasoline, electricity, heating… and that will be enough to reduce our consumption“, he said.
It was necessary to put an end to waste: it was then proposed to limit speed on the roads, reduce air traffic, ban the lighting of shop windows… Six years later, another oil shock. A mascot is then created: Gaspi.
40 years later, back in 2022: Olivier Véran calls on the French to “small gestures, such as unplugging as many electrical outlets as possible when going on vacation, cutting off the wifi, lowering the air conditioning or turning off the lights in rooms that are not used…
But IWe have to face the facts: on everyday gestures, what is proposed is not radically different from what we have already heard since the 1970s. Even if the executive promises to weigh its ” sobriety plan” above all on the State and on the major consumers of energy, namely companies, the great novelty lies rather in the framework in which this sobriety plan will be implemented.
First, the will of Brussels to take the hand on the major arbitrations. While Olivier Véran dismisses any constraint on energy savings, the European Commission is clear: we must reduce gas consumption by 15%… and this will be binding, if the energy crisis worsens. States will be bound by a pact. However, Emmanuel Macron said two things during his campaign: more sovereignty, more European solidarity. In the short term, the two will not be easily reconciled.
The second difference compared to the oil shock of the 1970s is the awakening of consciences on global warming. What is proposed by Olivier Véran in terms of gaspi hunting and building renovation is neither more nor less than the Citizen’s Climate Convention already proposed in its report two years ago. The sobriety plan proposed at the end of September cannot appear to be less favorable.
At the time, moreover, Emmanuel Macron had deviated from some of the measures, saying that he was not going to convert to degrowth. And this is his big challenge for the next few months: to convince that “sobriety” is not another way of saying “degrowth””.
We could recall, with a bit of playfulness, that Emmanuel Macron made fun of environmentalists on the 5G issue, whom he had described as “Amish wanting to return to the oil lamp“. Here is the same one who asks us today to turn off the lights.
Between sobriety and degrowth, there is a difference of degree, not of kind. The way is the same: reduce consumption, in this case of energy. And this will lead to slower growth. If the plan unveiled at the end of September only includes temporary and reversible measures, it remains sobriety. If the change is structural, it will fall into the big hat of degrowth.