Land take down only slightly, report says

According to the latest annual data from Cerema, revealed a few days ago by Le Monde, France consumed 20.276 hectares in 2022 compared to 21.011 in 2021, which marks "the end of the upward trend since 2019".

But this decline should be interpreted "with caution", the authors emphasize, insofar as it follows three years of increase and the number of hectares consumed remains "of the same order of magnitude as in previous years".

However, the researchers welcome “the absence of a recovery in space consumption” with a peak reached in 2021 which remains lower than the 2016-2018 period.

If artificialization clearly decreased between 2011 and 2015, it reached a first level around 22.000 hectares between 2016 and 2018, then a second level around 20.000 hectares between 2020 and 2022.

The year 2019 is an exception, with only 19.491 hectares consumed.

In detail, 63% of artificialized land is intended for housing and 23% for economic activity.

The areas authorized for housing returned to their pre-Covid level in 2021, and remain of the same order for the year 2022, with 38,5 million m2 consumed.

The areas authorized for economic activity are increasing, with 38,6 million m2 consumed in 2022 compared to 36,3 in 2021.

Positive point, France is consuming less and less space in relation to the volume of construction, a consequence of recycling and urban densification efforts.

Thus, 1 hectare of land makes it possible to build 2.538 m2 of buildings in 2021, compared to 1.950 m2 in 2011, or 30% more in ten years.

Concreting is mainly located in rural communities, which accommodate 32,7% of the population for 68% of national space consumption.

Conversely, dense municipalities (38% of the population) represent only 7% of this consumption.

These data published as part of the Land Artificialization Observatory are closely scrutinized while France is losing the equivalent of nearly five football fields per hour.

The 2021 Climate Law sets a goal of halving the rate of concrete construction by 2031 compared to the 2011-2021 decade, to go from 250.000 to 125.000 hectares consumed, before reaching neutrality in 2050.