If renewable energy investment behaviours became widespread, what would tomorrow's France look like?

France is fractured. As soon as the conversation turns to the energy and ecological transition, it breaks apart. On one side, citizens who champion it, want to act, and are looking to direct their savings toward it. On the other, the State, which decides, subsidises, and imposes, without ever truly consulting the territories. The result? A transition that divides, a climate ambition that crystallises criticism and rejection, and a lack of ownership over responsible projects.

When savings create belonging

Fortunately, this is not inevitable. It is merely a political choice, and it can be reversed. Because what is missing is neither an additional decree, nor another subsidy, nor targets set by the State: it is your savings. Today, 6,596 billion euros in French savings flow into circuits whose actual destination few savers are aware of. What if we did something with them? Because when you become a stakeholder, everything changes. A citizen who invests in a responsible project is no longer a mere spectator; they are an actor, even an author. They are the one writing the story of their territory. They take ownership of renewable energy infrastructures that they once ignored or viewed with suspicion. Now, those infrastructures belong to them a little, and that transforms their perspective. Suspicion gives way to pride, rejection to support, and indifference to commitment. Imagine: you rethink your investments by prioritising responsible placements aimed at building a wind farm near your home, a photovoltaic park in your region, or a methanisation plant in the neighbouring field. This is neither a science-fiction scenario nor a magic trick: it is a possible trajectory.

Tomorrow's France will be built by people who choose to make their money a lever for action. By investing responsibly, you do not give up returns; you choose what they are used for. Your money does not disappear into opaque circuits; it creates a virtuous circle. You direct your savings toward a responsible project, such as a hydroelectric dam financed by citizens. Its construction generates employment, and in doing so, you contribute to the revitalisation of French territory. Once production is up and running, the dam will generate revenues, injected into the municipality and redistributed to investors. Of course, the dam will continue to produce for years. And your money will not have disappeared: it will have changed the world, and then it will have come back.

A utopia? No, the future.

Thanks to this new reflex, our energy map would be redrawn. Instead of external infrastructures imposed by decision-makers far removed from citizens' concerns, renewable energy projects would emerge, rooted in a territory and carried by the people who live there. You could picture wind farms dotting the meadows, energy-positive schools with solar panels installed on their rooftops, and farms transformed into agrivoltaic holdings. Far from being a fantasy, this vision is already concrete and realistic, but not yet widespread enough.

Let us set out to (re)conquer French energy sovereignty through renewable energies! The question is no longer: "Why are they there?", but rather: "How did we ever manage without them for so long?"