Climate transition and changes in lifestyles, a challenge for the State

This will be one of the essential themes of the presidential campaign. After a summer marked by a very alarming report from the IPCC on the climate, by the resurgence of natural disasters, and while the third debate between contenders for the environmentalist primary was held on Friday, September 10, no candidate can afford to ignore the ecological transition. According to the annual survey “French Fractures” published by The world on September 7, 82% of French people (5 points more than in 2020) approve the idea “That the government take swift and decisive action” left to “Profoundly change their way of life”. But are they really aware of what that would entail on a daily basis?

In a note published in mid-August by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based think tank, economist Jean Pisani-Ferry warns of “Significant implications” climate measures on the economy and, more broadly, on all public policies. “We are talking a little too much about green growth. This is not wrong, but we must also talk about what the ecological transition will upset ”, underlines the one who participated in the development of Emmanuel Macron’s program in 2017. “Today, politicians do not want people to do more than two types of speech. Either: you will have the same life, but with different technologies, or: you have to completely change your way of life and switch to sobriety. Ultimately, technology will provide solutions, but the transition will be brutal ”, continues the economist, who points to the risk of social plans during this period: “Who is going to be successful? The question will arise quite quickly. “

“The argument taken up by the government or by companies, according to which the investments necessary for the ecological transition will necessarily increase activity, inflate tax revenues and create jobs is being defeated, abounds Benoît Leguet, Director General of the Institute for Climate Economics, a think tank founded by the Caisse des Dépôts and the French Development Agency. Initially, an electric car costing more than a thermal car, households will probably change their consumption basket, resulting in the destruction of jobs in other sectors. “

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