France launched a national energy savings plan on Thursday, banking on a push to turn off lights and lower thermostats to avoid power and gas cuts over the winter. Although the country is less dependent on Russian gas than eastern neighbors like Germany, French nuclear power production has slumped as the sector struggles to bring more of its aging reactors online out of forced maintenance. The government has set a target of cutting France’s energy consumption 10% by 2024 from 2019 levels, a first step in a longer-term plan to become carbon neutral by reducing energy use 40% by 2050. “Our joint action will allow us to avoid taking more binding measures,” Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said as she presented the plan. Under the wide ranging plan , the government would set the example, including by enforcing a 19-Celsius (64 Fahrenheit) temperature limit in […]