The French supported renewables even before the current energy crisis. Green voters are unsurprisingly most in favour of developing renewables (81%) but are closely followed by Macron voters and supporters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s left-wing alliance NUPES (both at 61%). Right-wing voters are the most reluctant to develop renewables and, compared to other voters, believe more strongly that nuclear is the solution to the crisis. Even residents who live within five kilometres of wind farms say they are very much in favour of them. Some wind projects can indeed be affected by design issues, in reference to lack of consultation with residents.
With Poland, France is the only EU country that has failed to meet its national target as part of an EU-wide objective of bringing the share of renewables to 20% of the bloc’s energy mix by 2020. France had a national target of 23% but only managed to bring the share of renewables to 19.1% of its final gross energy consumption. By the decade’s end, France will have to contribute to a new EU-wide objective on renewables. For now, the EU-27 has agreed to a 40% target for 2030.