A French advisory group has cautioned that the nation is not allocating sufficient funds to address escalating global temperatures, just days after the government released its third national plan for adaptation to climate change (NCCP3).
The High Council for the Climate (HCC), made up of prominent economists, agronomists, and scientists, expresses that there is a hole between the cash assigned to the transition and the real expense of implementing the changes.
“Funding for adaptation in the NCCP3 remains highly inadequate,” states the HCC report, which was published on Thursday. “The actions in NCCP3 that require immediate investment must be identified as quickly as possible,” it also said.
“Part of the public funding earmarked for risk prevention and the ecological transition towards adaptation is provided for in the PNACC3, but much of the funding has yet to be defined, and the funding available at this stage is inadequate.”
According to the HCC report, a detailed multiyear financing plan should be published following a 1.35 billion euro cut to the budget for the transition. “Funding dedicated to adaptation by the agencies appears in the PNACC3 as budgetary support for a number of actions. The budget breakdown of these actions is not specified. The worsening impacts of climate change will require increased funding for adaptation.”
PNACC3 proposed around 50 initiatives aimed at enhancing worker protection and conducting studies to improve transportation systems and agriculture.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, minister for ecological transition, launched the document by saying: “There is the scientific fact that climate change is already affecting the whole of France. Five thousand kilometres of French coastline – i.e. 20 per cent of our coastline is already affected by coastal erosion. One and a half million people are at risk of marine submersion.
“There is an economic observation: if France does not adapt to climate disruption, the consequences will be severe. Faced with these facts, my line is clear: prepare, anticipate, act.”
According to HCC chair Jean-François Soussana, the PNACC3 is an important step in adapting; however, the government is unable to carry the bulk of the load. “The state will not be able to do everything,” he stated. “You can also ask for efforts to be made by tightening up standards. For example, the introduction of summer comfort standards for buildings and the cost of that would fall mainly on private players.”
As well as emphasising the financial damages in the PNACC3, the body, which was launched by President Emmanuel Macron in 2018, suggests more focus on the adaptation. “Given the multitude of areas sensitive to climate change, interministerial coordination of its implementation is important,” adds the HCC report. There is a need for more monitoring, according to the experts.
“Despite the efforts made, not all the lessons learned from the first two NCCAPs have been fully applied. PNACC3 does not provide any feedback on the effectiveness of the measures proposed in previous plans (PNACC1, PNACC2) and does not propose any evaluation criteria to assess the progress made in PNACC3.”
