More and more frequent natural disasters and a growing bill: Prime Minister Michel Barnier unveiled the third National Plan for adaptation to climate change (PNACC-3), during a trip to the Rhône, this Friday October 25, accompanied by the Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
There presentation of this planlaunched in 2023 by the previous Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu, was constantly postponed, shaken up by crises deemed more urgent by the executive, then by the European elections and the dissolution of the National Assembly in June. Designed based on the hypothesis of a warming of 4°C in France by the end of the century (compared to 1.7°C at this stage), this plan contains 51 concrete measures intended to prepare the country for floods , coastal erosion, heatwave… L’Express summarizes the main points of the plan:
Strengthening the Barnier fund
The first measure consists of strengthening from 2025 this fund, created in 1995 by the current tenant of Matignon, intended to finance projects to prevent the risks linked to climate change.
On average each year between 2009 and 2020, it financed around 700 prevention operations for an amount of more than 170 million euros, or a total of more than two billion euros, according to a 2023 report from the Caisse centrale de reinsurance (CCR).
This reinforcement will be intended for “community prevention measures” and “to better protect the population from the intensification of climatic events and risks”, flooding in particular. Michel Barnier estimated this increase at 75 million euros, to reach 300 million.
Maintain affordable insurance
The government intends to “encourage insurers to maintain an affordable insurance offering throughout the country”. He intends to set up a “climate risk insurance observatory” to “reinforce the transparency” of changes in prices.
Adapt housing
Faced with the multiplication of heatwave episodes, the “rules and renovation programs” of housing will have to evolve to better take into account thermal comfort in summer.
Protect the most exposed workers
Prevention measures already put in place by employers whose employees may suffer from extreme heat “will be reinforced […] from 2025 […] by targeting the activities and work situations in which heatwave episodes present the most risks”. The public service will also be concerned, with the possibility in particular of staggering working hours. An experiment is planned for the summer of 2025.
Adapting to water scarcity
In addition to the Water Plan, launched in 2023 by the previous government, a specific study will be carried out in the French Overseas Territories to assess the risks linked to “the vulnerabilities of the drinking water supply”.
TRACC, a new planning tool
The climate trajectory leading to a warming of 4°C compared to the pre-industrial era “must gradually be integrated into all planning documents”.
The goal is that local authorities “no longer have to ask themselves the question of the climate scenario to adopt for their adaptation policy”. The objective is that by 2030, 100% of new documents integrate TRACC. On the other hand, there are no plans “for the moment” to include it in a law, specifies Matignon.
Transportation
Adapting transport to climate change will require establishing adaptation plans for transport infrastructure and services based on vulnerability studies – already carried out or in progress for most modes of transport. For public transport, the objective is to finalize them by 2025.
“Analysis of the results of these studies will make it possible to produce action plans detailing the budget necessary to carry out adaptation actions.”
Agriculture
Agriculture is one of the sectors most subject to climatic hazards. In order to better support operators in adapting their production methods, a “modular diagnosis for assessing the resilience of operations to climate change” will be put in place by 2026.
The aim will be to provide all the necessary information to farmers when they set up or transfer their farm.
Protect major cultural sites
The main French cultural sites (Eiffel Tower, Mont-Saint-Michel, etc.) “will be supported in 2025 to study their vulnerability and test adaptation solutions”. More broadly, an adaptation plan will be launched for “10 major sites”, the list of which has not been detailed.
Inform the public
A national mapping of exposure to natural risks (marine submergence, fires, floods) will be carried out by 2027 to give everyone access to knowledge of current risks and their probable evolution and to better prepare for them.