Public and private financing for climate change adaptation

Context 

We now have an increasingly clear overview of the identified adaptation financing needs in France. Previous I4CE research showed that initial discussions on how to meet these needs and the associated financing models were already taking place, but without being very advanced or conclusive. 

However, with the gradual implementation of the 3rd French National Adaptation Plan (PNACC3), the issue is maturing and these financing questions will become increasingly concrete and pressing. Once the vulnerability studies have been conducted, it will be time to choose the preferred modes of intervention, and the economic model of the various options available and the resources available will inevitably be a key criterion in these choices. 

These discussions will be intrinsically political, at both the local and national levels, in a pre-election context that will be conducive to debating contrasting views on the attitudes to adopt (for example, on the level of robustness of critical infrastructure, support for the most impacted economic sectors, or addressing the relocation needs of the most exposed territories). 

They will take place in a context of severe constraints on public finances, which leads to a twofold challenge: on the one hand, successfully directing public money where it is essential and makes a real difference, and on the other hand, considering non-budgetary levers of action that will enable sufficient resources, including private resources, to be directed towards adaptation. 

Project objectives 

The objective of this project is to build and gradually enrich a mapping of who is expected to meet which needs and to what extent in order to engage each actor—the state, local authorities, public financial institutions, and economic partners—in taking responsibility for supporting adaptation. The aim is to document credible options and the most operational financing models possible, tailored to each adaptation need. 

Ultimately, the collective ambition is to see the emergence of genuine adaptation programs—both national and regional—with clear governance and financing models so that adequate resources can be directed toward the various needs. 

Project structure 

The project is structured around three components:

• Basis for analysis: develop and discuss an operational framework for summarizing the specific financing challenges for each category of adaptation needs. The goal is to identify criteria for understanding where the resources needed for adaptation can be mobilized and which public policy tools should be prioritized for this purpose.
• Focus 1: for needs where potential for direct private action has been identified, objectify the conditions for realizing this potential in France. This leads to exploring the terms of public-private cooperation in terms of economic and financial models.
• Focus 2: for needs where potential for public budgetary action has been identified, clarify the sources mobilized, their uses, and the terms and conditions, to inform trade-offs at the national level. 

Project partners 

CGDD, ADEME, other partnerships are currently under discussion. 

Related project 

While this work is primarily focused on dynamics at the French level, it will be connected closely to dynamics in the EU. Therefore, this work will be carried out in synergy with the European SystR project, that I4CE is a partner of. SystR is coordinated by Demokritos (Greece) and it receives European funding (HORIZON-MISS-2024-CLIMA-01-09).