Public policies: the main remarks of the Court of Auditors in its annual report

Like every year, a short first part tackles the situation of public finances. The rest of the 700 pages this year focus on public action in favor of adaptation to climate change.

“Fragile” trajectory of public finances

The Court of Auditors estimated that the public deficit trajectory presented by the government in the public finance programming law for the years 2023 to 2027 was “unambitious” and “fragile”.

Returning below a public deficit representing 3% of GDP in 2027 is "unambitious", estimated the court, criticizing the government in particular for ratifying "a growing Social Security deficit" (at 17,2 billion euros, compared to 8,7 currently).

But this trajectory is also "fragile", because it does not include "any room for maneuver in the event of a less favorable scenario" than the "optimistic" hypotheses on which the government relies.

General savings not sufficiently documented

The Court of Auditors estimates that at least 50 billion euros in savings will be necessary by 2027 to bring the public deficit back below 3% of GDP. She criticizes the government that these “unprecedented” efforts are “undocumented and postponed to the period 2025-2027”.

These savings will be "all the more difficult" as "the increase in interest charges and numerous sectoral programming laws (Defence, Justice, Interior, Research) are already directing public spending upwards", in addition to future spending on the ecological transition.

Adaptation to climate change not quantified

The Court also regrets "the absence of exhaustive and coherent figures for all public actors" of the expenditure which will be necessary to adapt France to climate change.

“The assessment of the current and future costs of adaptation is incomplete, or even non-existent, due to a lack of sufficient data but also sometimes clear objectives”, deplore the magistrates, urging the State to play “correctly its role as a strategist”.

The military must do more to decarbonize

The Court of Auditors asks the French armies to do more to decarbonize and avoid a long-term gap with the civilian sector, even if their specific missions "justify(es) the granting of exemptions" for the use of technologies heavily emitting greenhouse gases.

Better tools for SNCF

The Court of Auditors regrets that the SNCF, and more particularly the infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau, "does not have the tools necessary to identify and measure the costs generated by climate change" and urges it to remedy this. .

Current tools - "Toutatis", to anticipate the hazards linked to heavy rain, "Metigate" to predict the temperature of the rail and the risks of expansion - do not make it possible to "model the effects of climate change". Certain decisions, such as the route of new lines, therefore do not take into account the risks linked to climate change, such as rising sea levels.

Urban planning and housing leave something to be desired

Faced with the increase in heatwaves, French cities have adopted strategies to adapt to climate change "lately", the magistrates note, and they are "only partially" responding to the challenges.

The “proliferation” of strategies registered at the local level “calls for rationalization” to better coordinate with the national adaptation strategy, underlines the report, calling for concrete trajectories with “steps to take and objectives to achieve”.

The housing stock is “overwhelmingly unsuitable” for climate risks, such as the rapid spread of heat peaks. Energy and thermal renovation policies have mainly focused on reducing CO2 emissions with targeted aid (change in heating method), regrets the Court, while global renovations aimed at adaptation remain "rare".

More investments for nuclear power plants

The Court calls for additional investments to adapt France's 18 nuclear power plants, dams and electricity distribution network to warming.

The jurisdiction recommends considering "if necessary" an increase in "the storage capacities" of power plants and underlines the need for the installation of cooling towers in power plants whose lifespan will be extended, in order to "reduce warming temperatures rivers."

Coastal Erosion Funding

The fight against coastal erosion, which is eating away at 20% of the French coastline, must "move beyond the logic of experimentation" to take action and plan relocations of housing and activities, considers the Court.

The report calls for a financing system "establishing financial solidarity between coastal territories and including a balance payable by each community (...) financed from its resources".

Towards forest groups?

The Court considers public support for research on forest adaptation “insufficient”.

She calls for “forest groups” to “improve the efficiency of the management of private forests” and for increased support for forest communities. She pleads for management by "an intercommunal structure", created with the help of the State, which would allow "economies of scale" in the development of management plans and to "mutualize risks".

Public research: can do better

French public research shines internationally in climate sciences (Earth observation, climate services, etc.), ranking between 4th and 5th in the world for publications (6th in general scientific terms).

But the Court notes “fragilities” in research to mitigate the effects of warming: the country is only between 10th and 11th place. It recommends "rebalancing" resources in favor of health, to reduce, for example, infectious risks aggravated by the climate, and town planning, to design more suitable buildings.