2023-07-28 10:30:10
“I can say it, we have a plan”. It is with this formula that Elisabeth Borne opened the National Council for Ecological Transition on July 12, during which France’s strategy for achieving carbon neutrality was presented. On this occasion, part of the veil was lifted concerning the methods of financing the transition envisaged by the State, but only part of it.
Echoing the report by Jean Pisani-Ferry and Selma Mahfouz, Ms Borne assessed the total need for additional investment at 60 billion euros per year, to be divided between public and private players. An unprecedented budgetary effort was announced on the side of the State, with 7 billion new credits included in the draft finance law (PLF) 2024.
Part of this amount will support local authorities through the sustainability of the “green fund” reserved for them. The government has also indicated that it wants to include this funding in a multi-annual framework, an essential element to reassure investors, especially local ones, and encourage them to act.
The unknown amount of expenses
Nevertheless, many unknowns remain in the equation, in particular concerning the place that local authorities will take, the means they must devote to it and the best way to finance them. They are in fact omnipresent in all the sectoral action plans because of their skills in terms of development or mobility.
Local authorities also own most of the public buildings to be renovated. Their territorial network allows them to adapt national policies to local specificities, or to train and support public and private actors towards decarbonization.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Budget 2024: the State is refocusing on sovereign functions and ecological transition
But to do this they will have to spend very quickly much more than today for the ecological transition. How much ? No one knows exactly. The stakes are however considerable, and likely to reshuffle the cards of a certain number of budgetary choices operated by the State and the communities themselves.
Twelve billion euros per year
The Institute for Climate Economics (I4CE) has sought to document the essential investment effort of municipalities, departments and regions. The needs of key sectors falling within their prerogatives, including the renovation of their heritage or the development of the public transport offer, have been assessed at 12 billion euros per year, i.e. more than double what they dedicate to it today!
You have 52.04% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#territories #reconciliation #budgetary #orientation #acceleration #environmental #action #based #fiction