France's changing energy mix

The Macron government faces the difficult task in 2018 of juggling competing demands for France's energy cocktail

The past year was an interesting one for French energy policy. The presidential campaign offered a wide range of options, from right-wing enthusiasm for nuclear power to left-wing plans to phase it out within 25 years. After the election, Emmanuel Macron's newly designed government didn't waste time: it unveiled a long-term vision with a "plan climat" (climate plan) designed to fulfil a commitment to the Paris Agreement and reach carbon neutrality around 2050. A law was passed accordingly to ban oil and gas exploration and production by 2040, a mostly symbolic move, given France's huge dependence on imported hydrocarbons. A more concrete and immediate step was the inclusion of a sharp carbon