France Gains Ground in Bid for Renewable Energy Carve-Out (1)

France moved closer to securing a carve-out from the European Union’s plans to massively scale up renewable energy this decade in order to better account for its nuclear sector.

The bloc’s 27 member states will discuss on Wednesday re-opening a landmark deal reached with parliament to scale-up renewables to at least 42.5% of the energy mix, according to people familiar with the matter.

France has been pushing to amend the text of the agreement over concerns about the cost and time needed to upgrade its gas-powered ammonia plants so that they use hydrogen produced using renewable electricity. It has consistently …