Is the State spending taxpayers' money wisely to adapt housing, city policies and even transport to climate change?
The Court of Auditors examines this subject in particular in its annual report on public policies, unveiled next Tuesday.
This document, the culmination of the financial jurisdiction's action, has been submitted to parliamentarians every year since 1832. This year it will have 725 pages, compared to 572 pages last year, and has twice as many chapters as in 2023.
The Sages of rue Cambon and the regional and territorial chambers of accounts (CRTC) “dedicate this year the theme of the annual public report to public action in the face of climate change”, according to a press release sent to AFP on Thursday.
“Due to its varied and diffuse nature, adaptation to the effects of climate change is a challenge which concerns and must involve all public actors”, affirms the control body, but the adaptation policies which result from it “weigh on national and local public finances, at the same time as they affect households”.
A “necessary exercise”
The Court therefore set about “measuring the scope of adaptation policies” implemented “in different sectors” (housing, urban policies, transport, finance, health, etc.): a “transversal exercise” that she considers “necessary”.
After the usual first chapter dealing with “all public finances at the end of February 2024”, its report therefore focuses in detail on the adaptation of public action to climate change, in 16 chapters.
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These are divided into three parts.
The first focuses on the actors of climate adaptation (public research, financial and banking institutions) and “the insufficiency of the efforts deployed to limit this phenomenon”.
The second looks at the concrete implementation of this adaptation “in the living environment and infrastructure”, addressing in particular “the question of housing, the city, transport networks”.
Finally, the third part consists of six chapters on “the natural environment and the preservation of people and activities”, which notably addresses the sustainable management of the forest and the coastline, the prevention of natural disasters in Overseas Territories, or protecting the health of vulnerable people.
“This report underlines the importance of coordination among all stakeholders in the implementation of public policies,” reveals the Court of Auditors, which assures that it “made sure to provide concrete elements of response.”