Objectifying the Debate on Financing the Energy Transition: What Lessons from the French Case?

This article looks at issues related to financing the fight against climate change and the broader energy transition. There is a heated and exciting debate both nationally and globally on these issues today. However, discussions often rely on methodological approaches and data which are sometimes insufficient or poorly understood. With this in mind, this article presents the results of a recent study identifying financial flows dedicated to the fight against climate change in France. It then addresses the limitations of such an exercise, including the difficulty of looking at the more general redirection of flows towards investments coherent with a future low-carbon economy that is also resilient to extreme climate events. For this, the article proposes a paradigm shift towards thinking in terms of consistency and inconsistency related to a “transition” rather than focusing on investments “dedicated” to the fight against climate change. The use of reliable and shared future low-carbon climate resilient scenarios seems promising – and necessary.