For many years, those involved in the ecological transition have been accustomed to experiencing the turbulence of current events. But this time, the vent is new. Since the European election campaign, the dissolution of the National Assembly and the resignation of Gabriel Attal’s government, entire sectors of environmental policy have come to a standstill. Announcements of postponed plans, outdated budgetary framework letters, suspended legislative proposals…
Much to the dismay of associations, researchers and communities, who no longer have any identified interlocutors to discuss the matter in the medium term, with Minister Christophe Béchu being the only person responsible for “current affairs”. “We don’t know what kind of government we’re going to have, we don’t know very well what kind of sauce they’re going to eat us in, what’s going to survive, what’s going to be launched, if there will be savings, investments”sums up Bastien Cuq, energy manager at the Climate Action Network.
As summer, a period ripe for budget discussions, draws to a close, the main emergency for the return to school will be financial. Like all other ministries, the ecological transition is in the dark. During a press presentation on August 20, Matignon unveiled a budget known as “zero value”almost identical to that of 2024. “A purely formal exercise aimed at making the administration at Bercy work”says a source from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, still a little worried. Because, according to information from the media, Context confirmed to Le Monde, The letter on the ceiling sent to the Hôtel de Roquelaure on 20 August did indeed provide for a slight increase in the ministry’s appropriations (+1.2 billion euros), but also reductions in appropriations in certain important sectors (-1.5 billion euros in the green fund, -1 billion euros for the electrification of vehicles).
“The hardest part begins”
This hypothesis would be very bad news for the “green budget”. Each finance bill (PLF) is crucial for ecology, whose appropriations must increase if France wants to respect its various commitments, in particular the reduction of 55% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to the 1990 level. After having obtained, in autumn 2023, an increase of 7 billion euros in appropriations for 2024, the Secretary General of Ecological Planning estimated that the effort this year should be even greater in “several billion” to move towards +10 billion.
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