Carbon intensity of electricity in France

France · 2025 · life cycle · Ember

Producing 1 kWh of electricity emits 41.4 gCO2e in France in 2025, over its life cycle, according to Ember, about 11 times less than the global average.

ADEME publishes 51.9 g (Base Carbone, electricity 2024, consumption mix) and RTE 19.6 g (direct emissions, 2025): three scopes, three values.

See the source

The Gravelines nuclear power plant, in northern France, seen from the sea. Photo Raimond Spekking, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Definition and scope

Greenhouse gas emissions of one kilowatt-hour of electricity produced in France in 2025, in life cycle assessment, according to Ember: the same source as for the world and the other countries.

What is included

Production, over the life cycle (construction of power plants, fuels)

What is excluded

Imports: this is the electricity produced, not consumed
Variations from one hour or one season to another

How the value is obtained

Value from Ember, reused by Our World in Data: the AI Impact Database takes a single source for all countries. The hub uses it when the servers are assumed to be in France. In an emissions footprint, the reference is ADEME's Base Carbone.

Limits and uncertainties

The large assistants do not run their servers in France, with a few exceptions: the value serves mostly as a lower bound.
The 3 sources give 3 values: a calculation must say which one it uses.

The order of magnitude

All figures

41.4 gCO2e/kWh on a carbon intensity scale, with another reference figure and 10 values from the linked chart, brought to the same unit. Each tick multiplies by 10.