On the French Population’s Carbon Footprint

We have devoted many column inches in these pages to various scenarios for ecological or energy transition, drawn up by both French and international bodies (International Energy Agency, French Ecological Transition Agency, RTE / France’s Transmission System Operator etc.). Most of these foresight exercises have highlighted the fact that technical developments alone would not be sufficient — or would not move fast enough — to curb climate change by the end of the century, and that there had to be decisive efforts to change behaviour and lifestyles. In other words, an essential driver for safeguarding the planetary living conditions of future generations was the urgent promotion of ecological self-restraint. To that end, it is essential to be able to draw on indicators showing precisely where there is scope for manoeuvre for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is the aim of the ‘carbon footprint’, which measures the emissions made by all economic actors with relative precision. In this article, Jérôme Boutang looks in a more detailed way at the carbon footprint of the French population as it emerges from a survey which enquired into people’s lifestyles and consumption patterns. After outlining the methodology and the virtues of this survey (based directly on behaviour), he enumerates its main findings: the distribution of the footprint by geographical location, business sector or socio-economic characteristics (based on income level or occupation) etc. This detailed ‘profiling’ enables us to see, at the individual level, the actions causing the highest emissions and to design remedial measures. It also allows policy-makers to identify the scope for action and possible levers for developing tools/incentives to promote greater collective energy sobriety.