Europe needs to go on an energy diet. Largely deprived of its former access to the Russian gas tap due to its opposition to the invasion of Ukraine, the European Union must reduce its energy demand now in order to build up gas stocks. , essential to face the winter. This challenge is on the menu of the extraordinary meeting of European Energy Ministers, Tuesday 26 July. A week earlier, Brussels had presented an emergency plan, counting on a target of 15% reduction in energy consumption by next spring.
By turning what had hitherto been abundant and cheap energy into a rare and expensive commodity, the Ukrainian crisis has succeeded where the fight against climate change has always failed: it has launched a European dynamic of energy sobriety, namely “a moderation approach to the services provided by energy consumption as opposed to overconsumption”, according to the definition of the NégaWatt association. A change of culture within the Twenty-Seven which is not limited to the plan presented by the Commission, but which is, everywhere, only in its infancy.
On its sobriety aspect, the plan prepared by the European Commission proposes to limit heating and air conditioning in public and commercial buildings, and to communicate more widely on the right gestures for the general public. On these points, some countries, such as Italy, had taken the lead. Under a policy renamed by the media “Operation thermostat”, since May 1, schools and public buildings can only use air conditioning if the temperature reaches 27°C in summer – against 26°C previously – and for heating only if the mercury drops below 19°, under penalty of a fine ranging from 500 to 3,000 euros.
Spain took similar steps at the end of May, as part of a larger “energy efficiency plan” – without however introducing constraints – which invites employees of the State civil service to telecommute more, to take public transport and the bicycle or even to turn off the lights earlier in the administrations. Recommendations which will be extended to all households, promised the government, which is working on “a decalogue” promoting eco-gestures, according to 20 Minutes (link in Spanish).
For Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, specialist in European energy policy the Jacques-Delors Institute, it is still too early to judge the effectiveness of these initiatives. “All governments do pretty much the same thing, and continue in denialhe believes. The only exception is Germany, which has barely begun to do anything a little serious. But it didn’t start until June 10.” Across the Rhine, the government has launched a vast communication campaign called “80 million together to save energy” (link in German)as the number of inhabitants of the country.
“Whoever saves energy helps Germany to become less dependent on Russian imports and contributes to the building of the climate.”
Robert Habeck, German Minister of Energy and ClimateJune 10, 2022
In France too, it is clear that “sobriety” is no longer a dirty word. During the traditional and very solemn interview of July 14, Emmanuel Macron announced “an energy sobriety plan” which will be unveiled at the end of September. “On will prepare a plan to put themselves in a position to consume less”, he announced. “We are going to try to pay attention collectively, in the evening to the lights when they are useless, we are going to make a plan for the public administrations, we are going to make a plan of sobriety in which we will ask all our compatriots to commit (. ..)”, he detailed.
New words and commitments that illustrate the failure of existing sobriety measures: the extinction of lights in shops at 1 a.m. at the latest or one hour after the cessation of activity already appears in a text entered in into force in 2018, while temperature regulation in buildings is already governed by a 2007 decree or an article of the Energy Code.
At the time of the oil embargo decided by OPEC in 1973, no one used the term sobriety, recalls Thomas Pellerin-Carlin. However, many countries then implemented “major energy sobriety campaigns” : in France, in addition to the famous campaign ‘”in France, we don’t have oil but we have ideas”, structural measures have emerged, such as “significant speed limits on the roads or the implementation of the first energy efficiency standards for new buildings, of which our current standards are the distant heirs”, emphasizes the expert. It was also at this time that a major cycling plan was born in the Netherlands which would have a lasting impact on the Dutch people’s relationship to mobility, he adds.
More recently, in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, Japan’s nuclear abandonment was accompanied by the “Setsuden”, “a major energy sobriety and energy saving campaign which, supported by the role model of the Prime Minister of the time, led to a general mobilization of the Japanese population”. The country has thus managed to reduce its consumption by 20%, continues Thomas Pellerin-Carlin. “It’s not a measure, it’s a collection of measures” which has kept Japanese industry from collapsing and electricity prices to remain “high without being too excessive”.
In comparison, the recommendations and measures taken by EU countries in the light of this new crisis testify to a limited enthusiasm for profound transformations. Surprising, while the fight for the climate rightly calls for having a lot more ideas and a lot less fossil fuels, says the Briton Rachel Kyte, World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Changequoted by Politico: “There is not a single G20 leader who talks about this crisis as an opportunity”noted this expert in geopolitics. “If what matters to you is the energy transition”this situation “is a gift”.
Ironically, this energy crisis is pushing States to rest on two legs going in opposite directions: the sobriety needed to combat climate change, and an emergency diversification of energy sources which requires increased use of more polluting. “Priority should be given to renewables, but switching to coal, oil or nuclear may be necessary on a temporary basis,” thus recognized the European Commission on 20 July.
Many countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Spain and France, have announced in recent months the possibility of making exceptional use of their coal-fired power stations, of delaying their closing or increasing their production, to compensate for the Russian gas cut. Anxious to avoid a surge in prices, Westerners are eyeing American shale gas, as well as gas and oil from the Gulf countries: on July 18, Emmanuel Macron, for example, concluded a new energy agreement with the President of the Arab Emirates united, Mohammed ben Zayed, guest at the Elysée. An agreement that provides for the increase of the country’s oil production. And the proof that, if the EU intends to fight to free itself from its dependence on Russian energy, it is now paying the price for its difficulty in freeing itself from its dependence on fossil fuels.