2050 Enery Commission
Decision-support at ministerial level
Directors: Nadia MAÏZI et Edi ASSOUMOU
Initiated by the Strategic Analysis Center’s Energy Commission to evaluate low-carbon scenarios for 2050, our approach was also used for the work of the 2050 Energy Commission, ordered by the Energy Ministry with the aim of establishing French energy strategy for 2050. This was made public in early 2012.
The CMA, through its ParisTech MPDD Chair, has worked with the Treasury Office to model scenarios using its TIMES-France model. These scenarios translate hypotheses of deploying or withdrawing nuclear power, as enacted by Minister Besson. The object of this academic exercise was to aid the Commission in its thinking process. The analyses and conclusions were published in a specific annex of the final report and were the object of several CMA presentations centered on the energy transition debate and a publication in the journal Applied Energy, “Future prospects for nuclear power in France”, Vol. 136, 31 December 2014, pages 849 to 859.
In 2015, the Ministry for the Environment, Energy and the Sea appointed Nadia Maïzi as a member of the expert committee on the energy transition. This committee was formed to advise on carbon budget and low-carbon strategy projects, respect for established carbon budgets, projects involving multi-annual programming of energy in mainland France and non-interconnected zones, and on implementing this programming before the first period of the current programming comes to an end.
To accompany this expert mission, a new thesis was initiated in late 2015/early 2016 at the CMA with Ariane Millot, on the issue, “Exploring decarbonation levers at national level: from ambition to achievement; how to strike a relative balance between state policies and civil society centered on France.” This thesis will explore the conditions for stemming the rising trend of greenhouse gas emissions at national level. These questions will be tackled from different perspectives, both in terms of state policy, and also by considering the impact of solutions initiated at other levels by civil society (e.g. companies, associations, citizens).
