A French brains trust has warned that the country is not spending enough money to deal with global rising temperatures just days after the government published its third national plan for adaptation to climate change (NCCP3).
The High Council for the Climate (HCC), a body comprising an array of leading economists, agronomists and scientists, says that there is a gap between the cash alloted to the transition and the real cost of implementing the changes.
"Funding for adaptation in the NCCP3 remains highly inadequate," says the HCC report which was published on Thursday.
"The actions in NCCP3 that require immediate investment must be identified as quickly as possible," it adds. "Part of the public funding earmarked for risk prevention and the ecological transition towards adaptation is provided for in the PNACC3 but much of the funding has yet to be defined, and the funding available at this stage is inadequate."
The HCC report suggests the publication of a detailed multi-year financing plan following a 1.35 billion euro cut to a budget for the transition.
"Funding dedicated to adaptation by the agencies appear in the PNACC3 as budgetary support for a number of actions. The budget breakdown of these actions is not specified. The worsening impacts of climate change will require increased funding for adaptation."
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Report
PNACC3 outlined some 50 measures, from increased protection for workers to various studies to better prepare transport systems and farming.
Launching the document, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the minister for ecological transition, said: "There is the scientific fact that climate change is already affecting the whole of France. Five thousand kilometres of French coastline - i.e. 20 percent of our coastline is already affected by coastal erosion. One and a half million people are at risk of marine submersion.
"There is an economic observation: if France does not adapt to climate disruption, the consequences will be severe. Faced with these facts, my line is clear: prepare, anticipate, act."
HCC chairman Jean-François Soussana told the French news agency AFP that the PNACC3 was an important step towards adaptation but the government could not carry the load.
"The state will not be able to do everything," he said. "You can also ask for efforts to be made by tightening up standards. For example, the introduction of summer comfort standards for buildings and the cost of that would fall mainly on private players."
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As well as highlighting the financial cracks in the PNACC3, the body, which was established by President Emmanuel Macron in 2018, recommends more focus on the adaptation.
"Given the multitude of areas sensitive to climate change, interministerial coordination of its implementation is important," adds the HCC report.
The experts warn that more monitoring is needed.
"Despite the efforts made, not all the lessons learned from the first two NCCAPs have been fully applied. PNACC3 does not provide any feedback on the effectiveness of the measures proposed in previous plans (PNACC1, PNACC2) and does not propose any evaluation criteria to assess the progress made in PNACC3."
