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The Energy Transition Law for Green Growth was published over a year ago, just a few weeks before the start of COP 21 in France. This framework law for reducing our country's energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions comprises 215 articles, including 160 measures requiring the adoption of an implementing decree. Just over a year later, 130 of these measures have already been implemented by decree.
What exactly is the situation today? Here's a look back at the main provisions likely to affect companies directly or indirectly. Other provisions will be presented in a forthcoming article. In this article, we will focus on the publication of the following decrees:
- The national low-carbon strategy and the multi-year energy plan,
- Building construction and renovation,
- Moving employees,
- A circular economy and waste.
Publication of decrees on the national low-carbon strategy and multi-year energy planning
The first national strategic guidelines for the energy transition policy launched by the law have been set, with the publication of the decrees on the national low-carbon strategy (SNBC) and the multi-year energy plan (PPE). Although they do not include any requirements for companies, these documents set out the roadmap for achieving the objectives set by the French Energy Transition Law (LTE) over the next few years.
SNBC - Decree no. 2015-1491 of November 18, 2015:
The SNBC consists of a definition of carbon budgets and orientations by sector for the periods 2015-2018, 2019-2023 and 2024-2028. The primary objective is to initiate a gradual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in line with the targets set by the French Energy Transition Act (40% less by 2030, then 75% less by 2050, compared with 1990 emissions).
PPE - Decree no. 2016-1442 of October 27, 2016:
This program defines the priorities of French energy policy up to 2023. The broad outlines are as follows:
- reduce energy consumption (-12%), particularly fossil fuel consumption (-22%),
- increase electrical renewable energy capacity by more than 70%, and increase renewable heat production by 50%,
- develop clean mobility by deploying active, collective and shared modes of transport, and diversifying fuels towards electric and natural gas vehicles,
- reduce nuclear power generation,
- make the energy system more flexible and resilient to shocks of all kinds, by developing storage, promoting self-consumption and deploying heat networks.
It should be noted that an appeal against the PPE decree was lodged on November 9, 2016 by the Sortir du nucléaire and Greenpeace associations, which denounced a "legal vacuum" concerning nuclear power in the PPE, believing that "this shortcoming constitutes a violation of the Energy Transition Law, since the text is not in line with the objective of reducing the share of nuclear production to 50% by 2025".
In addition to the SNBC and PPE, a number of other implementing decrees have been adopted to specify measures directly applicable to companies in various fields.
Energy Transition Act: Building construction and renovation
The constructibility bonus - decree no. 2016-856 of June 28, 2016 and order of October 12, 2016
New criteria have to be met to qualify for this bonus when building permits are issued. This bonus is a real opportunity. It allows the most efficient buildings, i.e. :
- producing more renewable energy than they consume
- or exemplary in energy terms: buildings whose conventional energy consumption is at least 20% lower than the reference consumption set by RT2012.
- or environmentally exemplary: buildings certified for their GHG emissions and other criteria such as site waste management, bio-sourced materials or indoor air quality.
Insulation work to be carried out on certain buildings undergoing major works - decree no. 2016-711 of May 30, 2016
When you carry out major facade renovation or re-roofing work on certain existing buildings, thermal insulation work must be carried out. The work concerned is :
- Façade restoration work on walls of heated premises facing the outside AND including repair of existing rendering, replacement of existing cladding or installation of new cladding, involving at least 50% of a building façade, excluding openings.
- Re-roofing applying to the roof or high floor of the last inhabited or heated level AND including the replacement or covering of at least 50% of the entire roof, excluding openings.
What are the criteria for exemption?
- The risk of building pathology linked to insulation work
- Insulation work that contravenes town-planning regulations or constraints on the preservation of architectural and landscape heritage.
- Clear disproportion between the advantages and disadvantages of insulation (extra cost, payback period > 10 years, impact on building use, deterioration in architectural quality, etc.).
Employee travel
Bicycle mileage allowance (IKV) - Decree no. 2016-144 of February 11, 2016
This allowance is paid to employees who commute by bicycle between their home and their usual place of work. Initially intended to be compulsory, the IKV can now be paid on a voluntary basis by companies. The conditions for implementing this allowance have been specified:
- Voluntary implementation by the employer,
- Allowance set at 25 euro cents per kilometer,
- Can be combined with public transport season tickets for feeder journeys to public transport stops,
- Allowance exempt from social security contributions, up to a limit of €200 per year per employee, based on the number of kilometers travelled by employees to get to work.
Parking lot equipment - Decree no. 2016-968 of July 13, 2016 and Order of July 13, 2016
The obligation to equip parking lots with infrastructure for recharging electric vehicles and parking bicycles has been extended.
Accordingly, under certain conditions, new buildings used primarily for industrial or tertiary purposes that are equipped with a parking lot and for which a building permit application is submitted on or after January 1, 2017, must be equipped with :
- facilities for recharging electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles
- a secure bicycle parking area
Secure bicycle parking
Whatever the type of new building, 3 technical characteristics must be respected: an indoor or outdoor space (enclosed and covered) on the same land unit, a secure locking system or surveillance, and fixed devices for stabilizing and securing the bike by the frame and at least one wheel.
For new buildings primarily intended for office use, the space must represent at least 1.5% of the floor area. For new buildings used mainly for industrial or tertiary purposes (other than offices), this surface area must be sufficient to accommodate a number of bicycle spaces calculated on the basis of 15% of the total number of employees accommodated simultaneously.
Electrical installations for recharging electric or hybrid vehicles
In the case of new buildings used mainly for tertiary or industrial purposes, 10% of spaces (with a minimum of one space) must be equipped if the capacity is less than or equal to 40 spaces. This percentage rises to 20% when capacity exceeds 40.
These parking spaces must be supplied by a dedicated electrical circuit capable of subsequently accommodating recharging points with a minimum nominal unit power of 22 kW.
Circular economy and waste - decree no. 2016-288 of March 10, 2016 of the energy transition law.
The commitments made in the French Energy Transition Act to promote thecircular economy, in particular through waste recovery, have been implemented.
Paper, metal, plastic, glass and wood waste - Decree no. 2016-288 of March 10, 2016
As of July1, 2016, the so-called "5-stream" decree requires non-hazardous paper, metal, plastic, glass and wood waste to be sorted at source in order to promote recovery. This obligation concerns waste producers and holders who do not use the public waste collection service, as well as those who produce more than 1,100 liters of waste per week.
The producers/holder concerned must :
- organize the separate sorting and collection of this waste, either by sorting it at source, material by material, or by grouping these waste families together for subsequent sorting,
- sell this waste to collection and/or treatment service providers with a view to its recovery,
- ensure that each year, by March 31st at the latest, you receive the certificates drawn up by the collection or treatment service provider, stating the quantities and nature of the waste taken in charge and its final recovery destination.
However, the decree leaves a number of questions unanswered. In particular, the text does not specify whether material or energy recovery is involved, nor does it define clearly enough the type of waste concerned (particularly in the case of plastics).
Biowaste
The same decree also completes the system applicable to bio-waste. It prohibits the mixing of bio-waste with other types of waste once it has been sorted by the producer. In addition, the recovery facility must now provide the producer or holder with an annual certificate stating the quantities and nature of the waste collected separately during the previous year, as well as its final recovery destination.
Building materials
The decree details the obligation for all distributors of building materials, products and equipment intended for professionals to take back waste from materials, products and equipment of the same type. However, this measure could be annulled following an appeal lodged with the Conseil d'État by the Comité de Liaison de la Distribution Professionnelle au Bâtiment (CLAB).
In this article, we give you an overview of the initial impact of the French Energy Transition Law. In a few days' time, we invite you to discover a new article which will complete this subject. This time, it will focus more specifically on the new economic mechanisms for energy management, the tools for promoting the production of electricity from renewable sources, and the reporting obligations for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.