Abandoning Fossil Fuels Will Also be Achieved Through Innovation

Damien ADAM [TBS Edcuation 2014] 

Deputy of Normandy

Tell me a little about yourself and your background.

I graduated from TBS in 2014 and started a career in the private sector, first at Bouygues Telecom and then at Crédit Agricole, but I have always been interested in politics without really having the keys to pursue it. I would have loved to do the TBS Sciences Po course but I graduated a little too early! In June 2017, I ran for office and was elected in Normandy with "En Marche!" and I was re-elected this year in June.

Since hydrocarbons and especially Russian gas have become weapons of war, the need for energy sobriety has become a top priority. Was the sobriety plan that was decided in the autumn of 2022 managed as a crisis plan?

When Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February 2022, European countries very quickly came together to react. It was indeed a concerted reaction to the crisis, similar to what we had seen during the Covid-19 pandemic for example. Very quickly, we decided on joint sanctions against Russia. In fact, it was these measures that caused tensions first on oil and then on Russian gas, because we collectively decided to stop financing Russia through our imports.

"It's about integrating into our daily lives that energy abundance is not a given."

As an elected official, how were you involved?

The first scenarios of the conflict were studied in February. Sanctions were imposed just after the invasion, but their impact on our energy supply was felt later. By the end of the second quarter, we knew that this conflict would become an energy crisis. In France, at the same time, the nuclear power plant fleet was affected by the repair of 16 reactors due to stress corrosion, which accentuated the difficulties. Since the integration of the new parliament last June, working groups have been involved in the construction of the energy sobriety plan, bringing ideas and information from the field and from our constituencies.

Until now, there wasn't really a public awareness of the fact that easy, abundant, and cheap energy was far from being a given. Doesn’t the war in Ukraine finally advance the issue of climate change in public opinion?

That's true, since the recommendations of the energy sobriety plan, individuals have been asking themselves a lot of questions about their consumption and how to reduce it. This also corresponds to the time when Linky meters were being installed. We are all starting to better monitor our consumption, if only to control our bills.

For large companies, especially those that consume the most like steelmakers, controlling their energy bills was already well established.

Tell me about the energy sobriety plan.

First of all, the sobriety plan is associated with a support plan. Firstly, there is a series of recommendations for reducing energy consumption through simple everyday actions. Then there are measures to optimize consumption, and finally the development of an electrical load shedding plan in the event of high demand on certain difficult winter evenings.

Can you give me some of its recommendations?

Yes, very simple things such as shifting the use of the dishwasher or dryer to nighttime. What we need to learn to avoid collectively is overloading the network during peak consumption hours. Ultimately, it's about incorporating into our daily lives the understanding that energy abundance is not a given.

"it's about incorporating into our daily lives the understanding that energy abundance is not a given."

We are experiencing the urgency of this energy crisis, but there is also another urgency, the climate urgency, which also involves, among other resources, energy consumption. How is sobriety also a long-term response to this other form of emergency?

That’s true, and that is why this crisis only accentuates an already established diagnosis. The decarbonization that can slow down global warming also requires sobriety. In reality, we need to act on 3 levers.

Sobriety, of course, is one, even if its impact is marginal. The second lever is the decarbonization of our consumption, which involves its electrification and the abandonment of fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas). We want to raise the electric share in our energy mix to 60%. And we will also achieve this result through a third lever : innovation. Innovation is essential and acts on the other two levers : replacing a gas boiler with a new generation of heat pump, investing in the renovation of buildings, new engines...

According to you, what role will regulation play in achieving the objectives of the fight against global warming?

It is necessary to act on several axes simultaneously. Incentives that allow consumers to obtain quick results, such as a discount on their energy bill when it decreases, which some energy companies are already doing. Then subsidies are proposed. For example, for the renovation of buildings, such as the "ma prim' renov" scheme, or financial aid to industries to support the decarbonization of their production. 

Finally, there is a coercive component that complements these stimulus measures and that is also necessary. It is based on regulations and the law. Energy planning also involves monitoring and measuring the results obtained, This makes it possible to adjust the various types of action to these results.

"Our goal is ambitious: to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050"

Finally, I wanted to ask you about the perceived antagonism at first glance between growth and sobriety. Our economic model and its health is based on growth. How can we support growth while also promoting sobriety? This seems counter-intuitive.

Sobriety is not degrowth. Sobriety is above all about getting rid of unnecessary consumption.

The fight against global warming needs growth to create wealth, tax revenue, and therefore resources to invest in decarbonizing our economy. There is no contradiction. It is not because we are aiming for growth that we are giving up on sobriety. Sobriety is a profound change in the way we produce by seeking to reduce energy consumption and natural resources. It’s an optimization.

In France, we know that growth is often correlated with household consumption. How should the message of sobriety be understood regarding consumers?

As we aim to produce differently, we also aim to consume differently. Products made closer to home, in Europe, in France, services. By reindustrializing France with a decarbonized approach, we can achieve our ambitious goal: to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050

Interview by  Anne LAFONT (TBS Education 1988)