[FR] Climate: what investments for the next five years?

There are less than 30 years left to achieve carbon neutrality. This transformation of the French and European economies, which has barely begun, is historic. Essential to avoiding climate chaos, it must also incorporate other environmental issues, including biodiversity and air pollution. It also represents an opportunity to modernise our industries, create quality jobs, combat poverty, strengthen economic prosperity and assert our political and energy independence.

Although many countries announced carbon neutrality targets ahead of the latest international climate conference (COP 26), concrete action is still lacking, both in France and elsewhere. There are many possible paths to achieving neutrality, and these must be specified, clarified and put forward for public debate.

The different facets of the ecological transition cannot be addressed separately from one another. Public and private investment, lifestyle changes, the reconfiguration of urban spaces, a new social pact, worker training, innovation, changes to economic incentives and the production of new energies must therefore be approached jointly in order to provide a systemic response and meet the climate challenge.

Some projects are already underway: 2% of French GDP is already devoted to climate-friendly investments, the European Union is rolling out a Green Deal, and building renovations, renewable energy production and electric vehicles are on the rise. The Citizens’ Climate Convention has demonstrated that this form of participatory democracy can lead to concrete proposals, some of which have been incorporated into the Climate and Resilience Law promulgated in 2021. The France Relance plan provides €30 billion for the ecological transition, but over a limited period of two years. France 2030 provides predictability for the financing of certain innovative sectors.

In this Policy Brief, we identify the structural elements for which we expect concrete proposals from each candidate and each political family. On climate change, any political project can be proposed to the French people, but each political project must be translated into a multi-year public investment programme. While investment is not everything, it is the focal point for expressing political choices and allows us to better judge the real content of proposals, beyond the rhetoric.