l'Actualité du Solaire

With less than three weeks to go before the presidential election, the Minister for Ecological Transition expressed her profession of faith in favour of ecology to students in Amiens

For her, "becoming the first carbon neutral continent and being at the forefront of the ecological transition is Europe's destiny.

It is a question of sovereignty in the face of Russia, the United States and China. It means no longer depending on Russian oil and gas to heat us in winter, but diversifying our sources of supply and developing our own decarbonised energies, especially renewable energies. It also means manufacturing tomorrow's green technologies in our factories, such as batteries, solar panels and wind turbines. It also means securing our supplies of critical materials for the ecological transition, such as lithium or cobalt, by better recycling our electric batteries.

"Finally, ecological sovereignty means ensuring that the products we import meet our environmental standards, in terms of combating deforestation or reducing_CO2 emissions."

https://tecsol.blogs.com/mon_weblog/2022/01/barbara-pompili-op%C3%A9rer-la-transition-%C3%A9cologique-est-aussi-une-question-de-souverainet%C3%A9-.html

Tecsol of 20 January 2022

Editor's note: The minister is mixing two very different aspects, ecology and geopolitics, in the belief that she is achieving sovereignty.

Sovereignty is first of all to have a competitive, efficient and effective industry and trade, so as not to depend on our neighbours for imports of machinery and raw materials (including oil and gas). France is suffering from deindustrialisation, which the President of the Republic officially deplores. While it is obvious that obtaining electricity that is cheaper than oil with renewable energies is a considerable public good that must be sought by all means, it is not possible to obtain the same level of energy from renewable energies. While it is clear that obtaining electricity cheaper than oil from renewables is a considerable public good and should be pursued by all means, it is hard to see how deforestation or clean air improves the competitiveness of the economy, even if it is desirable. Wanting to impose a carbon tax at the entrance to European borders is not even illusory (since it has been talked about, it would already be operational), it is wanting to make people believe something that is not possible politically and economically. It is impossible because other countries have already threatened to stop importing champagne, camembert or German cars.

What would be the point of producing "carbon neutral" goods if the products produced are much more expensive than those with carbon? Europe would indeed have carbon-free products, but the population would buy the cheapest one, the one with carbon. However, we will not be able to tax foreign products according to their carbon content because Chinese products will not have the same carbon content as American products! How then can a single rate be set? How can it be introduced if Europe is subject to retaliation? What is the benefit to the economy or to the population if we do not pay attention to economic constraints in the name of an ideology? Ecology is good, but the well-being of the population is better.