Paul Simondon
Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Finances
The City of Paris is committed to becoming a decarbonised city, based 100% on renewable energy by 2050, through the goals set out in its Climate Air Energy Plan. The city is developing innovations to achieve these objectives in all its strategies and financial instruments. In particular, the city assesses the climate impact of its municipal budget in terms of operations and investment. This analysis informs its budgetary choices and public procurement. Environmental sustainability is also an essential criterion for Parisians when drawing up the participatory budget (the largest in the world in terms of volume, with 5% of the investment budget, i.e. 100 million euros per year). To finance this low-carbon transition, the City of Paris is issuing green bonds which represent €1 billion of its current €6.5 billion debt. Paris was the first city to create a territorial investment fund, the Paris Green Fund, endowed with more than €150 million to support companies in the Ile-de-France region that offer innovative solutions to contribute to the ecological transition. Finally, the City of Paris is currently working to develop a local carbon offset operator.