Copyright
Paul Malliet; Mathieu Plane; Francesco Saraceno; Anissa SaumtallyPublished On
2025-12-08Page Range
pp. 29–44Language
- English
Print Length
16 pages
France
Preserving Investment in the Energy Transition in an Unstable Policy Environment
- Paul Malliet (author)
- Mathieu Plane (author)
- Francesco Saraceno (author)
- Anissa Saumtally (author)
This chapter begins by assessing the situation of public capital and investment in France. We show that public capital is overall less degraded in France than in other EU countries, even if, since the sovereign debt crisis, net investment growth has been sluggish. We then focus our attention on the energy sector, important both for the green transition and for strategic autonomy. Since 2009, greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by 33%, but the decarbonization of the energy mix in recent years has stalled. Today, France is at a crossroads; the coming years will be crucial in achieving France’s decarbonization goals for 2030, and for 2050, the target date for reaching carbon neutrality. Past choices regarding public finances (entailing a reduced fiscal space), and a missing medium-term energy transition plan concur in threatening the continuity and stability of investment in the energy transition. The chapter concludes with recommendations on how to strengthen the French energy transition policies but warns that a European effort is essential to succeed in the energy and green transition.
Contributors
Paul Malliet
(author)Paul Malliet is a Senior Economist at the French Economic Observatory (OFCE), where
he works on macroeconomic modelling of climate and energy transition policies. He
is part of the team responsible for developing the THREEME model (a multisectoral
macroeconomic model for evaluating environmental and energy policies) in collaboration
with the French Environment Agency (ADEME). He contributes to the improvement of
modelling tools used for policy evaluation in a forward-looking approach, whether for the
national carbon emission reduction strategy or for labour market developments. His latest
research focuses on the macroeconomic evaluation of energy pricing, the redistributive
effects of climate and energy policies, and carbon accounting principles.
Mathieu Plane
(author)Mathieu Plane is a Deputy Director of the Analysis and Forecasting Department at the
OFCE Research Center in Economics, Sciences Po, Paris. He is in charge of economic
forecasts for the French economy and works on economic policy issues. He teaches
at Sciences Po, Paris and at the University of Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne. He was, in
2013–2014, economic advisor to the Ministers of Economy, Industry, and the Digital
Sector. He has recently published, in collaboration with other authors of the OFCE,
What Trajectory for France’s Public Finances?, Uncertain Growth: Economic Outlook for
the French Economy 2025–2026, and French Economy 2026 by Éditions La Découverte,
Repères collection.
Francesco Saraceno
(author)Francesco Saraceno is Deputy Department Director at OFCE, the research centre in
economics at Sciences Po in Paris, and Professor of Practice at LEAP-Luiss, Rome. He
holds PhDs in Economics from Columbia University and the Sapienza University of
Rome. His research focuses on the relationship between inequality, macroeconomic
performance, and European macroeconomic policies. From 2000 to 2002 he was a
member of the Council of Economic Advisors for the Italian Prime Minister’s Office. He
teaches international and European macroeconomics at Sciences Po, where he manages
the Economics concentration of the Master’s in European Affairs, and in Rome (Luiss).
He is Academic Director of the Sciences Po-Northwestern European Affairs Program.
He advises the International Labour Organization (ILO) on macroeconomic policies
for employment and participates in IMF training programmes on fiscal policy
Anissa Saumtally
(author)Anissa Saumtally completed her PhD at the University of Bordeaux, after graduating
from the London School of Economics with a BSc in economics. Her doctoral
works focused on economic modelling in innovation and development economics,
studying technological and economic catching up. She has previously worked at the
French Directorate of the Treasury, where she worked on the Opale macroeconomic
forecasting model used for the French budgetary laws. She is currently working at the
OFCE (Sciences Po Paris) in the department of environmental economics where she
contributes to the development of the ThreeME macroeconomic multisectoral model
used for the analysis of environmental and energy policies.