Photovoltaics: A first-of-its-kind French collaboration updates reference data and confirms the reduction in the carbon footprint of solar electricity

The French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME), the Energy Impacts Observation Center (OIE) at Mines Paris PSL, the CEA laboratories at INES (National Institute for Nuclear Energy), and Certisolis announce the publication of a major update to French data contributing to the IEA PVPS’s international reference report, *Life Cycle Inventories and Life Cycle Assessments of Photovoltaic Systems* (International Energy Agency – Photovoltaic Power Systems Program).

This unprecedented collaboration between key players in research, environmental expertise, and the photovoltaic industry makes it possible to update the life-cycle inventories for the manufacture of photovoltaic modules and significantly improve our understanding of their environmental performance, leading to a 30–50% reduction in the CO2 footprint of photovoltaics.

The initial results from this updated report show a significant reduction in the carbon footprint of photovoltaic electricity generated in France. Thanks to notable improvements in photovoltaic panel manufacturing processes, a major change involves the amount of materials required for their production, which has been significantly reduced.

While the value currently used in the Empreinte database (https://base-empreinte.ademe.fr/) is 43 gCO₂eq/kWh, the new data indicate that this value now falls within a range of 20 to 30 gCO₂eq/kWh—a reduction of nearly half. The exact value depends on the site’s sunlight exposure and the type of installation (ground-mounted or rooftop).

By comparison, electricity generation from coal emits 1,060 gCO₂eq/kWh, and from natural gas, 420 gCO₂eq/kWh.

Photovoltaic energy therefore contributes to the low level of greenhouse gas emissions in the French electricity mix, which is already highly decarbonized at 46.2 gCO2eq/kWh.

This trend reflects the considerable progress made by the photovoltaic sector over the past decade and confirms the central role of this technology in the energy transition and the decarbonization of the electricity system.

The results published today represent an important step toward a comprehensive update of photovoltaic emission factors. An in-depth life-cycle assessment study is currently underway to refine the results and establish a baseline value representative of the French context.

The final conclusions of this work, to be available by the end of 2027, will inform future updates to national and international environmental databases, thereby improving the robustness of environmental assessments conducted as part of public policies, impact studies, and sustainability analyses.

This initiative illustrates the importance of collaboration between public agencies, research centers, and industry stakeholders in producing transparent, robust, and shared environmental data.

By bringing together the expertise of ADEME, Mines Paris, the CEA, and Certisolis, this project helps improve the quality of environmental benchmarks used in France and internationally to evaluate the performance of photovoltaic technologies.