France

Most of French electricity production is already from zero emission sources (88%), primarily nuclear power (63% share in 2022). Wind and solar reached 12% of French electricity in 2022, up from 5% in 2015. However, this growth has been primarily at the expense of nuclear power rather than fossil fuels, which have maintained a low share. Last year, French nuclear power suffered a further fall with large-scale maintenance and safety outages, leading to a 22% shortfall in output compared to the previous year.

France is the EU’s largest producer of zero emissions power (412 TWh in 2022) and is significantly ahead of other EU countries in decarbonising electricity, having one of the lowest shares of fossil fuels in the electricity mix (12% in 2022). 

To limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, France must phase out coal by 2030 and fully decarbonise electricity by 2035. France has already committed to phase out coal by 2024, but has yet to set a date to fully decarbonise electricity.

Last updated: April 2023