Publications

A comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the challenge of financing the low-carbon transition at the local level in France. Local authorities have a major role to play in achieving France's 2050 carbon neutrality goals, as set out in the Stratégie nationale bas-carbone (SNBC). Due to their property and responsibilities, they must make numerous climate investments, implement strategies and action plans, and deploy initiatives to mobilise local actors.  

Time to take stock, 4 years after the first experiments   Report only available in French   A momentum for green budgeting is gaining ground within local authorities: In the space of four years, around a hundred of them have embarked on the green budgeting process or have plans to do so. This includes nearly […]

Local authorities have a major role to play in achieving France’s 2050 carbon neutrality objectives, as set out in the National Low-Carbon Strategy (Stratégie Nationale Bas Carbone, SNBC). Due to their assets and areas of expertise, local authorities must make numerous climate investments, implement strategies and action plans, and take measures to encourage stakeholders within their territories. This study aims to estimate the cost of such climate action for local authorities. 

While French local authorities have important levers for adaptation, they will only be able to mobilize them if certain conditions are met at national level: the entire effort cannot rest on their initiative alone. This is what this I4CE's Climate Report shows. There is an urgent need for a discussion on adaptation between the national government and subnational authorities.

According to I4CE's research, to meet European and international commitments made by France to carbon neutrality, French local authorities need to more than double their annual climate-related investments (from €5.5 billion to €12 billion annually), to around 20% of their current total capital expenditure.  

For local governments, it is when expenditures are debated that it is possible to question them and to channel them towards the climate transition. That’s why I4CE and its partners co-constructed a common and shared methodology to assess a local budget according climate issues.

For local governments, it is when expenditures are debated that it is possible to question them and to channel them towards the climate transition. That’s why I4CE and its partners co-constructed a common and shared methodology to assess a local budget according climate issues.

For local governments, it is when expenditures are debated that it is possible to question them and to channel them towards the climate transition. That’s why I4CE and its partners co-constructed a common and shared methodology to assess a local budget according climate issues.

I4CE and its partners make available, free of charge, to interested local authorities a methodology to evaluate local budget under the prism of climate issues. It is a transposition of Green Budgeting approaches, such as the one carried out on national French budget, to the budgets of local authorities.