France

France’s support for the initiative

During the sixth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM6), France committed alongside Australia, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Russia, Sweden, the European Commission and the United States to reaching total sales of 10 billion high-efficiency, high-quality lamps such as LEDs.

This initiative will be highlighted during three events during COP21:

• the Action Day on 5 December 2015,
• the Energy Access and Efficiency Focus on 7 December, during a joint announcement with the en.lighten initiative promoted by UNEP
• a side-event by the Clean Energy Ministerial.

The Minister will participate in the two former events.

France fully supports the Global Lighting Challenge (GLC) and is carrying out numerous actions to speed up this transition towards more efficient lighting.
These commitments improve the efficiency of lighting and lamps, while addressing the imperatives of health security and the issues of the circular economy.
There are multiple advantages, including energy savings and reduced light pollution, thus helping preserve biodiversity, health and energy supply security.

As spearhead of this initiative, France has to be exemplary on the three following aspects:

Fostering the emergence of the most efficient lighting and lamps
French companies comply with the European directive on the eco-design of energy-using products, removing the least efficient lighting and lamps from the market.
French consumers are guided in their purchases towards the most efficient products through energy labelling: the colour-coded performance scale, from G to A+++, is easily identified on energy labels and helps determine which products have minimal impact on the environment and on energy bills.
The French Government supports an ambitious, effective European policy regarding eco-design and labelling of lighting products, through which the cost of LEDs is falling constantly, while innovation now makes it possible to find LED solutions for all applications.

Helping consumers initiate the energy transition in the area of lighting
The French Government promotes LED technologies which have an energy rating of at least A+, which have a life of at least 15,000 hours, and which have a risk level of 9 under the EN 62471 standard on “photobiological safety of lamps
and lamp systems”. People living in French local areas classed “Energy-positive areas for green growth” (TEPCV) will benefit from the distribution of a million such lamps.
Energy suppliers have to contribute to energy saving efforts under the White Certificates Scheme for energy savings (CEE). Lighting solutions fall under the CEE scheme in all sectors.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are currently completing their compulsory energy audit, which will indicate relevant solutions in areas including their lighting systems.
The French public investment bank, BPI France, has put in place energy saving loans to allow micro-businesses, very small businesses and small businesses to acquire efficient equipment for their lighting.
The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) promotes initiatives to renovate lighting in tertiary buildings.

Implementing the energy transition for public lighting
The Act on energy transition for green growth requires that new public lighting facilities installed for the central government and local government bodies should fulfil the requirements of energy and environmental exemplarity.
More than 110 local government bodies awarded under the TEPCV call for projects have committed to actions to renovate their public lighting, with the installation of LEDs. These actions are carried out with the support of the French energy transition fund (Fonds de financement pour la transition énergétique). Moreover, the envelope of €5 billion of loans from the French Caisse des Dépôts and Consignations (CDC) to local government bodies can support energy efficiency projects, including public lighting.
In Corsica, the Minister responsible for energy has launched an initiative to step up the rate of modernization of public lighting greatly. The aim is to renovate 30,000 lighting facilities out of 70,000 in Corsica within three years.
The competent public bodies for lighting have to adopt an action plan to control the energy consumption of public lighting and related light pollution.
Public-private partnerships help put in place contracts for energy performance services for public lighting, which currently total €50 million per year.
Lastly, the French Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Development (Cerema) has launched a study to take stock in detail of public lighting in France, concerning both the equipment in place and the organization of bodies and competences. The results of the study will be released in 2016.