In the face of the multiple crises that have undermined European energy security – the war in Ukraine, tensions in the Middle East, and China’s leadership in green technologies – our research consortium, which includes GEM’s Energy for Society Institute, IRIS, AFD, the Jacques Delors Institute, Enerdata, and Futuribles, has just launched the GEEP Observatory. Its mission is to compile and organise a set of indicators to inform European strategic decisions regarding energy, industrial, and technological sovereignty.

This first collective article, published in the journal Futuribles (No. 473), presents the observatory’s six areas of analysis and initial findings on decarbonization trajectories, dependence on critical materials, and levers for resource efficiency.

With the 2027 elections approaching, this booklet is intended for candidates, policymakers, and citizens who want to understand what is truly at stake in the energy sector for the coming five-year term. It draws on the concrete concerns of the French public – purchasing power, employment, sovereignty, finances, and quality of life – as reflected in major recent polls (IPSOS, CEVIPOF, ADEME).

The energy transition takes on particular significance in the current context, marked by delays in the Finance Bill (PLF in French) and the Multiannual Energy Plan (PPE in French), postponing the definition of France’s budgetary and energy priorities. This uncertainty creates instability for economic actors and citizens, slowing the implementation of coherent policies.

Roundtable at GEM – Campus des Alpes on 11/2/12/25 with Catherine MacGregor, CEO of ENGIE; Fabien Gay, Senator of Seine-Saint-Denis and Vice-President of the Economic Affairs Committee; Sophie Sidos, President of the French Foreign Trade Advisors, Co-President of the Europe and International Commission MEDEF, President MEDEF Isère, Vice-President of the Vicat Group Holding, President of Fondation Louis Vicat; Malik Hechaïchi, Deputy Mayor of Belleville-en-Beaujolais, President of the Rhône Energy Syndicate (SYDER); and Carine Sebi, Professor and Chairholder of the Energy for Society Chair at GEM.

GEM and the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS in French) invite you to two days of conferences and debates on today’s geopolitical issues, both in person and online. Two days with international experts on major topics: United States, China, climate, European security… and the opportunity to attend a roundtable with our expert Carine Sebi, Chairholder of the Energy for Society Chair. November 28–29, 2025, at GEM’s Alpine Campus.

Drastically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions depends on strong citizen support for renewable energies. Using economic analysis tools and business model studies, the Energy for Society Chair explores citizens’ perceptions, resistances, and motivations.

Our research reveals that the more onshore wind develops, the more it generates opposition, and the media tend to pit these two energies against each other, reinforcing nuclear legitimacy at the expense of wind. Moreover, support or rejection of onshore wind correlates with political orientation and trust in institutions. As for the social acceptability of methanization, it does not follow a single rule and support is conditional on local involvement.

GEM students project themselves into a carbon-neutral society in 2050: six captivating prospective stories to inspire the energy transition. Climate and economic inequalities, shared sobriety, shortages, surveillance, cooperation, relocation, and technological innovations are the themes highlighted in this fiction exercise where students from the Master in Management (Grande Ecole Program) and International BBA project their visions of the world. “We asked students to undertake this atypical exercise because transitioning to a carbon-neutral society will require renewing our collective imagination and, with it, our relationship to energy and nature,” explains Anne-Lorène Vernay, Associate Professor and member of the Energy for Society Chair.

Release of the book “Energie: retrouver une ambition européenne: Entre fiction et réalité” (in French], the collective work co-authored by two economists, Patrick Criqui, Emeritus Research Director at CNRS, and Carine Sebi, Teaching and Researcher at GEM, as well as Michel Derdevet, Political Scientist at Confrontations Europe, published in early May by Editions Descartes & Cie, allows readers to understand global and national energy policy challenges and shows that solutions already exist, but they require ambition and political coordination.

“The ambition of this work is to highlight the need to rearm Europe’s green industry in order to secure our energy future. The rest of the world will not wait for us in this revolution. Europe must therefore assert itself with ambition and boldness along this path.”, Carine Sebi