If the term “Green Fund” does not necessarily mean much to many, that the millions of euros sometimes invested in the ecological transition seem to be desperately falling into a bottomless pit from which nothing concrete comes out, it could perhaps -be change. For local authorities, municipalities or intermunicipalities, and therefore residents, this could improve their daily lives. Want a carpooling service? To green the village school? To renovate public lighting in the municipality or to invest in the energy renovation of a building? This is basically the objective of Green fund, decided by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne last January, and which takes the form of a substantial envelope of two billion euros. A nice sum, provided that it is arrowed only on ecological projects.
Euros which should make people happy, in the form of a subsidy, available and from which some are already benefiting, such as the association which manages the Forest Fire Sentinels system in the Bas-Rhin department and which has received a subsidy of 10,000 euros. Or even the municipality of Dieffenbach-les-Woerth in Alsace, which received 10,400 euros, or half of the investment, to install heat pumps in five municipal buildings.
In total, 11 types of projects are eligible for the Green Fund. Energy renovation of public buildings, parks of public lighting fixtures, flood prevention, renaturation of cities, recycling of wasteland, but also “ecological transition engineering”, in other words, subsidies for those who do not don’t necessarily have a service for setting up files, strategies… And to speed up the pace and facilitate administrative procedures, an online platform for applicants has been set up.
Because the idea is indeed “to accelerate the ecological transition, to be a real lever for the ecological transition”, underlines Josiane Chevalier, prefect of the Grand-Est. Each prefect of the major regions has in fact received a nice envelope for which they are in a way the guarantors and which they will have to, with the sub-prefects of the regions, ensure “very tight management” in the choice of accepted projects, their progress … And that is “new in the method”, emphasizes the prefect, and which should “make the difference, with the only watchwords being proximity, profitability and ecological efficiency of the proposed projects”.
“A very close follow-up”
A very regular use of the Green Fund is promised with a meeting planned each month, between the prefects of the regions and Christophe Béchu, Minister for the ecological transition and the cohesion of the territories of France, to take stock of the progress of the projects, know the difficulties, the number of files submitted. “A freedom given to the prefects, but with the counterpart of a very tight follow-up, whereas so far, it was a counter”, recalls Josiane Chevalier. Understand, the services of the prefecture received the files to be processed. Now it’s quite the opposite. “It’s a real change, explains Josiane Chevalier. The prefects and sub-prefects know the mayors and can see and discuss projects directly with them on the spot. We are really in a logic of proximity and advice, with many round trips between us. »
For the Grand-Est region, Josiane Chevalier has an envelope of 165 million euros, of which 26.5 are for Alsace alone. “The objective is that communities can act more quickly and initiate their operations without waiting to necessarily have the means”, explains the prefect. A fund that will not necessarily be used to promote Strasbourg and the big cities, but “especially the more rural territories, indicates the prefect. Ecology is everywhere. I want to show concretely how a fund can irrigate a territory, with concrete projects. A subsidy which, moreover, can be combined with other grants, such as the DETR, Decil, Decid… At the level of the Grand-Est region, this represents a total of 358 million euros available. “It is an extremely virtuous fund, which is good for the planet”, welcomes the prefect. A fund already available therefore. All that’s left is…