After a final meeting with his ministers, Emmanuel Macron must present the ecological planning action plan this Monday, September 25. Will the measures be effective enough to achieve the greenhouse gas reduction objective?
Ecological planning will (finally) reveal its secrets. Emmanuel Macron must speak to the French this Monday, September 25 to present his plan supposed to enable a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, the objective set by the Paris agreements. A plan promised since the 2022 presidential campaign, but which was only at the draft stage since then. After measures distilled, refined and announced in recent weeks, the government must put forward concrete measures.
A final meeting of the Ecological Planning Council in the presence of the Head of State, the Prime Minister and the ministries concerned must take place in the afternoon before Emmanuel Macron’s speech. What should we expect from the announcement of the ecological planning plan? A priori a summary of the reflections of the council of experts of the General Secretariat for Ecological Planning (SGPE), attached to Elisabeth Borne. If the political measures adopted by the government will be officially revealed, there remains a major point to be decided: the financial credits allocated to the ecological transition. While Emmanuel Macron announced “40 billion euros” invested in ecological planning in 2024, not all of them will come out of the pockets of the State. The subject will be debated during the examination of the finance bill in Parliament scheduled for the end of September.
Six axes to ecological planning
THE plan designed by the General Secretariat for ecological planning is based on six areas of work: transport, housing, the development of ecosystems, electricity production, agriculture and consumption.
The primary objective of ecological planning being to reduce CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030, and by 80% by 2050, the most obvious measures consist of “organizing the gradual end of fossil fuels, leading cause of climate change”, underlined the Elysée. A progressive but announced definitive reduction in the consumption of oil, gas or coal in all possible areas, whether in industries, the agri-food sector or in private homes is therefore expected.
Focus on renovation and hunting for fuel oil in homes
With ecological planning, the government wishes to continue and extend thermal renovations of housing, a project started with the launch of the MaPrimeRénov’ system in July 2022. This financial assistance is one of the main levers for acting on greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse in homes considered as thermal sieves. The budget of this structure should be doubled according to the promise made by Elisabeth Borne in the Parisian. According to the SGPE, the number of renovations slightly exceeds 500,000 this year and must reach the objective of 2.5 million in 2030.
Problem: hiccups have multiplied for the system and the rights defender, Claire Hédon, published a report in 2022 on the dysfunctions of this aid. Thousands of households have highlighted the significant payment delays from the State and the 100% digital platform has had a series of computer bugs.
In addition to the subject of thermal strainers, we must also tackle highly polluting heating methods. The government wants to divide by three the number of homes heated with oil and considerably reduce those equipped with gas boilers, which will not, however, be banned. At the same time, the executive wants to encourage the installation of heat pumps that are significantly less polluting than other heating systems.
Favor carpooling and electric cars
Transport is another lever for acting on CO2 emissions and the government wants to significantly reduce the use of thermal cars. He already hopes to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads thanks to carpooling: the objective is to reach 3 million daily carpooling trips in 2027. An ambitious goal since only 900,000 are counted in 2023, but difficult to achieve because apart from an aid of 100 euros granted to new carpoolers, no incentive measures have been thought of. The possible increase is therefore mainly due to the desire of the French to adopt this mode of transport.
To counter thermal cars, the government also wants to encourage the purchase or rental of electric cars, of which 1 million copies will be produced in France by 2027. The increase in the ecological bonus planned for the purchase of an electric vehicle is moreover in the boxes. Finally, the emphasis is placed on soft transport with the construction of 150,000 kilometers of cycle paths by 2030 and the establishment of metropolitan RERs in 12 French cities.
Cleaner electricity and agri-food production
Production is one of the main sources of pollution. The government therefore wants to accentuate the shift towards renewable energies to replace fossils such as oil and coal. A change which involves investment in solar energy and onshore and maritime wind power, or even the conversion of the two remaining coal-fired power plants to biomass by 2027. But it is mainly on nuclear that the government with the relaunch of nuclear power announced by Emmanuel Macron during his speech in Belfort in 2022.
The change also applies to agricultural production which must become cleaner and more sustainable. Ecological planning provides for a 10% increase in the area cultivable organically and an increase in production to be more independent as well as limit highly polluting imports. It is also the way of producing and breeding that must become more sustainable with fewer pesticides, among other things. By acting on food production, the executive also wants to change diets to also make them more sustainable thanks to more reasoned consumption of more local and seasonal products.
But these projects resulting from ecological planning plans are difficult to impose in the face of the action of certain ministries such as that of Agriculture, whose minister, Marc Fesneau, declared this summer that France “rather has temperatures which are quite normal for one summer”. Very surprising comments given the comments from Météo France which classified this same summer as the fourth hottest since 1900…
A budget that raises questions
Financing this ecological planning seems difficult to establish. According to Franceinfo, Elisabeth Borne had promised the mobilization of 60 billion euros. However, only seven will be hired by the state. Nearly 53 billion euros are therefore missing at this stage. The government would rely on the commitment of local authorities and the Caisse des Dépôts to achieve the promised budget. Climate Action Networkan environmental association, feared that this funding “could rely on the most precarious or mean a reduction in funding for other essential areas of State action”.