The Macron method disconcerts conservatives. That, already, is a merit. It opens the field of possibilities for those who invent the world of tomorrow every day. But it is not enough to open up the game. Its direction still has to be legible.
In this respect, two events of the newly begun term of the President of the Republic sketch the possibility of a course. There is, first of all, the appointment of Nicolas Hulot to the government. Let us go beyond the short-sighted analysis that would see in it only a political gamble, one more.
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The man’s competence, commitment and consistency, added to the coherence of the proposals he has been formulating, with others, for years, encourage us.
Emmanuel Macron’s decision to entrust him with a powerful and broad ministry — and Nicolas Hulot’s decision to accept its heavy and delicate charge — constitute a gamble that France should have taken long ago. This choice offers a historic opportunity to hold high a substantial and stimulating vision of society, a vision combining economic boldness, ecological demand and social inclusion.
A period of rebirth
There is, next, that press briefing held alongside his host Chancellor Angela Merkel, in Berlin. There the President of the Republic clearly called for an investment plan, endowed with real budgetary power, and not merely with a meagre “Juncker-style” toolbox.
The ecological and united transition, and in particular its energy component, bring the ideas for this European investment plan on a silver platter.
There is here enough to refound the Union by abandoning small-shopkeeper approaches and by opening a period of rebirth, ambitious for itself and protective of its citizens.
The President of the Republic and his Minister for the Ecological and United Transition have, in order to take up this double energy and European challenge, a momentum. In France, thousands of economic actors have been working for years to build a powerful sector, one that creates jobs and is committed to the fight against climate disruption. They are ready.
An Internet of energy
The framework is there too. The rules of the energy game were largely opened up, between 2007 — the year of the Grenelle de l’environnement — and today.
Thus the possibility now exists, for companies and individuals, to consume the electricity they produce locally themselves. Chosen from among so many others, this simple example marks the realisation of a brilliant idea, that of an “Internet of energy”, an image we owe to the futurist Jeremy Rifkin.
This network can be connected to a fleet of intelligent, autonomous electric vehicles, in order to reduce the impact of our transport and improve the air that we and our children breathe.
It also places us in the prospect of freeing ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels and their unsustainable bill, both financial and climatic.
The role of start-ups
This energy revolution can be seen as a puzzle whose pieces are gathered before our eyes. We have the technologies to produce green gas, electricity from wind and sun. We have the patents and the software to control buildings equipped with photovoltaic roofs and facades, capable of producing their own energy and sharing the surplus with their neighbours.
In France and Germany, energy start-ups are innovating, raising funds, hiring. Today, these companies can play a driving role in the metamorphosis of the European economy. Their development would generate jobs at the heart of the territories, even the most fragile ones. They are a source of hope… and also of tax revenue.
Unlocking the budgetary bolt of local authorities
The time has come to launch a European Marshall Plan for energy. It must be able to irrigate all territories. To begin with, there is nothing like financing a massive investment aimed at giving public buildings — those of the state and of local authorities — their energy autonomy.
For the budgetary bolt of local authorities, which very often prevents them from setting the machine in motion, must be unlocked. Now such a plan would be virtuous on several counts. First of all, it would lighten the public sector’s energy bill in the long term.
According to the Agency for the Environment and Energy Management (ADEME), public buildings — schools, swimming pools, sports facilities, administrations — account for 76% of municipalities’ energy consumption.
Next, it would help to take up the ecological challenges, starting with the climate challenge. Further still, it would create thousands of highly decentralised jobs, as close as possible to the commissioning local authorities.
Finally, this plan would set Europe up as a great green power, capable of exporting or, better, of sharing its model with Africa. In short, it would have the capacity to open a period of prosperity.
Inventing a prosperous world
European citizens are human beings in search of meaning, for themselves and for future generations.
They are also employees in search of a well-paid job that cannot be relocated. They are also entrepreneurs in search of challenges and opportunities that create societal added value.
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Making the ecological transition a European Marshall Plan would mark the historic victory of the builders over the grim managers. Being accountable for public funds must no longer prevent us from inventing a prosperous, just and sustainable world.
If we miss this historic opportunity, others will know, when the time comes, how to seize it, in a quite different way.