| Author(s) |
Jean-Michel Dalle Pierre Jérémie Sébastien Zimmer Christine LE BIHAN-GRAF |
| Publication type | Synthesis |
Breakfast debate on 10 October 2024
Climate change and the energy transition require considerable investment to reduce the impact of human activity on the environment. The new technologies to be implemented and the new behaviours to be developed most often require the payment of public subsidies on the grounds that the activities they support would not naturally find funding commensurate with their general interest. However, there is still a lively debate about the validity of the subsidies paid. Any form of aid is open to accusations of distortion of competition in an integrated Europe, a breach of equality or economic inefficiency. There are many ways in which aid can be paid to limit these criticisms: should it be limited to the start-up of a new activity to kick-start the development of a sector, and then reduced or abolished? Should the aid be transformed into a repayable advance when the activity reaches profitability?
