Surfing on TEPOS, reach and limits of French Policy localism

Local initiatives in the field of climate energy have received growing attention over the past decade. This contribution will present and discuss the results of a rough census - undertaken in France (2012) in collaboration with the Reseau pour la Transition Energetique - TEPOS (Positive Energy Territories) network - of significant sustainable energy initiatives in rural areas. This census points to a few significant experiences and depicts them as risky, trial-and-error transcalar processes. When emerging, local initiatives most often rely on national and transnational networks in order to exchange experiences and practices. In these processes, energy issues are often seized as opportunities to foster local territorial development. In a second part, we will discuss policy “localism”, a term recently coined in the UK in order to capture a policy rethoric invoking the central role of local communities in society and the energy transition. Taking lessons from the recent debate in the UK, we will discuss the reach and limits of a French policy localism emerging in the recent energy transition Law (TEPCV Law, 2015).