The Citizens’ Convention on Climate presented the government this Friday with proposals for a socially just and environmentally sustainable recovery plan.
The members advocate for a crisis recovery “that is not carried out at the expense of the climate, human beings, and biodiversity” and “that prepares for a different economic and societal model, more humane and more resilient.”
Moreover, they request the government to ensure that “funding mobilized for the crisis recovery is socially acceptable, directed towards green solutions” and that “investments focus on future-oriented sectors that respect the climate.” They also remind that “this crisis concerns all of us and will only be resolved through a common effort involving citizens in the preparation and decision-making process.”
About fifty very concrete proposals have been submitted to the Head of State and his government to ensure that the post-lockdown recovery is green and not brown, rich in jobs, socially equitable and not “business as usual,” which are of great interest. They are both ambitious and realistic and testify to the extraordinary work done by the Convention since last fall.
The often ambitious proposals commonly aim to balance ecological and social aspects and suggest regulation to act, rather than merely relying on incentive measures. To give an idea, we present some of them “without filter.”
1/ Make comprehensive energy renovation of buildings mandatory by 2040
The goal is to move from renovation by small gestures to comprehensive renovation and to renovate 20 million homes comprehensively by 2030, including 5 million poorly insulated homes. This is a major national project that creates jobs, reduces energy bills, improves comfort, and reduces healthcare costs.
For co-properties and social or private landlords, renovating poorly insulated homes (energy labels F and G) would be mandatory by 2030, and others (D and E) before 2040. For individual houses with owner-occupants, comprehensive renovation would be mandatory at the time of transfer starting in 2024.
Starting in 2021, rent increases for poorly insulated homes would be prohibited when changing tenants. From 2030, a penalty would be imposed on landlords who have not renovated, via the property tax in particular.
These binding measures would, of course, be accompanied by technical and financial aid: a single point of contact for renovation support, a progressive aid system for renovation, ensuring minimal remaining costs in respect of social justice.
2/ Combat soil artificialization and urban sprawl
Within the intercommunal planning framework, the number of hectares available for artificialization per commune would be limited during the 2021-2030 period to a quarter of what has been artificialized since 2000. Moreover, any artificialization would be prohibited where rehabilitation is possible within the existing urban envelope.
To encourage the reuse of already urbanized spaces and densification, citizens have proposed a series of suggestions: such as strengthening fiscal measures to penalize vacant housing and offices.
3/ Eating differently
In the agricultural chapter, Convention members recommend setting ambitious goals: converting 50% of land to agroecology by 2040, reducing nitrogen fertilizer use by 50% by 2030, and eliminating all pesticides by 2040. As a corollary: developing legume crop sectors, permanent grasslands, short supply chains…
4/ Decarbonize the transport sector
To encourage using soft or shared means of transport between home and work, the sustainable mobility package, provided by the recent orientation law on mobility (LOM), should be made mandatory for all companies with more than eleven employees, and the bonus should be increased to 500 euros per year, with the possibility of extension up to 1,800 euros in certain situations (rural areas, precarity). The adoption of sustainable mobility plans should be made mandatory in all companies.
The citizens also request a revision of the deductible kilometer allowance against income tax, which currently favors large vehicles. To promote the use of bicycles by schoolchildren, there should be “a bicycle lending system based on the model of lending school books.”
To create new travel habits, public ways should be massively developed. Among the proposals: prohibit access to city centers for the most polluting vehicles, create park-and-ride facilities whose ticket allows access to public transport in the city center, increase bike fund amounts from 50 to 200 million euros annually to finance bike paths, and generalize reserved lanes for shared vehicles and public transport on peri-urban highways and expressways.
Not forgetting railway infrastructures throughout the territory. In this regard, citizens recommend reducing VAT on train tickets from 10% to 5.5%, generalizing across the territory attractive pricing measures already practiced by some regions at the level of TER (regional express trains) and coaches.
A series of other proposals relate to freight transport: including an increase of 400 million euros per year in investments in favor of freight rail and multimodal platforms, as well as the gradual phasing out of diesel tax benefits, in exchange for compensations for road hauliers in the form of enhanced financing aids for the purchase of new, less polluting trucks.
The individual car is naturally the subject of numerous proposals: banning the sale of new high-emission vehicles as of 2025, adjusting insurance contract taxes based on CO2 emissions, developing long-term rental of clean vehicles to avoid purchase investment, reinforcing the current bonus-malus system to reorient the market. Currently, with a threshold at 110 g of CO2/km and a penalty of 1,000 euros when crossing the 133 g mark, 5% of new vehicles have a penalty of more than 1,000 euros.
5/ A profusion of avenues
There are also numerous pertinent proposals concerning waste management, eco-design, savings orientation, green conditionalities for public R&D aid, business support in the transition, professional training, advertising regulation, digital sobriety, environmental education at school, improvement of citizen participation…
In the end, nearly 90 pages of proposals have been laid on the executive’s desk, uneven in their level of precision but expressing a clear demand from the 150 citizens for a green and ambitious recovery plan. It remains to be seen what will be done with this proposal, which does not come from experts, environmental defense associations, elected officials, or political parties.
