Soil artificialization: two MPs submit a bill to facilitate land transition

Soil artificialization, marked by the consumption of nearly 24.000 hectares of natural, agricultural and forest areas (Enaf) per year, constitutes a threat to biodiversity and aggravates the effects of climate change.

The goal of "zero net land artificialization" (ZAN), enshrined in the 2021 Climate Law, aims to halt urban sprawl by 2050. But the method, deemed too arithmetical and unfair for rural areas, is facing opposition from local elected officials.

"The objective set since 2021 (...) is the essential response to the climate emergency, the collapse of biodiversity, and the loss of our agricultural land," stressed EPR MP Sandrine Le Feur during a press conference.

The text entitled "Succeeding in the land transition", which includes 23 articles, is the legislative translation of the report submitted in April with MP Liot Constance de Pélichy.

In addition to Liot and EPR, five other political groups (Socialists, Democrats, Horizons, GDR and Ecologists) co-signed this proposal.

"It's a counterattack [to the senators' text] because we were shocked by their proposals," acknowledged Ms. Le Feur, referring to the "Trace" PPL adopted at first reading in the Senate in March and accused of unraveling the ambitions of the Climate Law.

"Over the past three years, the deadlines have been amended twice, there have been successive relaxations, and each new reform has further pushed back the visibility of the legal framework," she argued, believing that elected officials needed "stabilization."

The text plans to extend the calculation of Enaf consumption until 2041, namely the creation or effective extension of urbanized spaces, before moving to the calculation of "artificialization" understood as "the loss of ecological functions of soils" through a nomenclature defined by decree.

But the main novelty lies in its fiscal aspect, with the deputies intending to put an end to a tax system accused of encouraging artificialization.

"The text introduces a simple logic: those who consume pay, and those who preserve are supported (...) Preserving soils means providing an essential environmental service to the community," explained Constance de Pélichy.

The MPs propose to remove tax exemptions "such as the property tax on built properties for new constructions, the development tax for warehouses, hangars, covered parking lots, or even partially on the first square meters of a building."

They also propose to generalize the tax on commercial wastelands and to create a similar tax on industrial wastelands.