The Region of Ile-de-France

Overview

Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated regional area in Europe, largely because it contains the city of Paris and its commuter belt: 99% of its population live within this metropolitan area. If Île-de-France were a country, it would rank as the 15th wealthiest in the world.

By area, 45% of the region is used for crop farming and 23% is managed forest. However, urban growth is encroaching on the rural areas, gaining 1000 kilometer² over the last 50 years.

The Conseil Regional d'Ile-de-France is a local authority implementing policies with an annual budget of 4.7 billion euros, attributed to two major sectors: transport and high schools. The jurisdiction of the Conseil Regional implements further policies, including research and development, economic development, housing, health and culture.

The Conseil Regional also implements environmental and energy policies that includes plans, subsidies, information production and project development. It appoints ARENE (Regional Agency for Environment and New Energy), to help with information deployment, data collection and prospective analysis. It also works with different partners like ADEME (national Agency for the Environment and Energy Management) which participates through its local board, to implement these policies:

In June 2011, Île-de-France adopted a Climate Plan, setting out priorities for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Plan contains 24 far-reaching action points. The regional Government will set many precedents and take a leading role in supporting the development of new low carbon markets throughout its own activities.

The Conseil Regional voted 50 million euros in investment in its 2012 budget to refurbish high schools. The creation of a sustainable public procurement network will help authorities exchange experiences and bundle their purchasing power. The region is also planning the creation of a “Climate Club” (Club Climat), a forum gathering the main regional players to develop new actions for mitigation and adaption to climate change.

Current activities

Energy efficiency 

A strong emphasis is put on energy efficiency in the Climate Plan, with the political rationale of increasing fairness. A new semi public company (“Société d’économie mixte”) will be formed with a budget superior to 15 million euros, in order to support the refurbishment of apartment blocks and public building stock, as well as to develop the region’s renewable energy potential, starting in 2012.

A special advisory service will also help small and medium sized enterprises manage their resources more efficiently. 

Renewable energy 

Conseil Regional subsidies on clean energy investments include 20 million euros to help install renewable energy devices.

Île-de-France is becoming a leader in geothermal energy, with around 80% of France´s geothermal energy produced here. 150,000 homes are heated in this way, avoiding 30,000 tons of carbon emissions annually. 

The energy policy package will be revised in 2012, to increase ambition. 

Clean transport

The region promotes the use of technologies such as video conferencing to reduce business travel. It also promotes sustainable commercial transport and aims to double the amount of merchandise transported via the region’s waterways by 2020. This will reduce road and rail freight volumes and will reduce overall emissions.

Sustainable land use

14% the region’s territory is protected as Regional Natural Park land. The Agency for Green Spaces manages 12,500 hectares of nature reserves.

Waste management

The Region has three action plans that will together achieve a processing capacity of 6 million tons of waste per year.  First, a domestic waste plan, which will increase biomass capacity to 40% and recycle 60%; second, a plan for processing hazardous waste which requires producers of the substances to help recycle or treat them; third, a plan for reducing the waste from health products by 30%.

Links 

Read more about Ile-de-France's Climate Plan

Visit IledeFrance.fr

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