Green Fund: Claim that it was quartered since 2023 does not stand up to fact-check

Paris – 02.07.2026: The Fonds d’accélération de la transition écologique dans les territoires (Fonds vert) was set up in 2023 to support municipalities and territorial authorities in investments in climate adaptation, energy efficiency, renaturation and biodiversity. Its launch was accompanied by an appropriation estimated at around €2 billion in the 2023 budget law and, according to the government, was intended to quickly trigger effective, locally anchored projects.

In the political debate the question currently is whether the fund has been drastically cut since its creation. The coordinator of La France insoumise, Manuel Bompard, said in effect that the fund had been “divided by four.” A look at publicly available budget documents adds nuance: For 2024 increased Autorisations d’engagement (AE) of €2.5 billion were initially projected, but were later adjusted in the course of budget revisions and austerity measures. The documents also distinguish between AE (authorisations to commit) and crédits de paiement (CP, payment appropriations) — a distinction that is crucial for classification, because AE represent the legal commitment for future expenditures, while CP concern the actual payment flows in a given year.

For 2026 the Ministry of Ecological Transition names an initial endowment for the Fonds vert of €837 million. This figure is explicitly presented as the starting budget in the fiscal year and does not by itself say anything about possible supplementary appropriations, reallocations or multi-year project disbursements. A direct comparison between the €2.0 billion at the 2023 launch and the €837 million starting figure for 2026 shows a reduction, but by no means a quartering. Depending on the reference base and how the budgetary system is considered, the decrease corresponds to roughly one-third up to a little more than one-half — but not to one-quarter.

Additionally, the fund partly uses rolling project funding. As a result, AE can be higher in one year while CP are spread over several years. In public debate shortcuts such as “divided by three” or “divided by four” regularly lead to misunderstandings if it is not clear whether gross appropriations, starting endowments, supplementary appropriations or actual payments are being compared.

Conclusion: The pointed claim that the Fonds vert has shrunk to one quarter since its creation is not supported by the published budget figures. What is documented is a lower initial endowment for 2026 compared with the 2023 launch. For a precise assessment AE, CP and multi-year payment profiles must be considered separately.