Planification Écologique: Reality and Aspiration

Workshop supported by LIEPP's Environmental Policies research group (project Ecological Planning in the 21st Century: Uses, Forms, Methods and Effects) and INDEP.

Abstract

Ecological planning has taken root in French policy circles, with the “greening” of state budgets and billions of euros for low-carbon retrofits. Meanwhile, Mexico legislates public grid expansion, South Korea directs electric vehicle production, Denmark pioneers offshore wind development, and China barrels ahead with state-backed venture capital, positioning itself as a global provider of green technologies. Together, an emerging cohort of countries is rewriting the playbook for rapid decarbonization. The central message: transitions to low-carbon economies will require a strong state.

Simultaneously, researchers and climate advocates have turned their attention to planning as a promising if speculative alternative to market-led decarbonization. Flighty and risk-averse investors chasing dependable returns, it is argued, are proving incapable of providing the massive reallocation of capital necessary for low-carbon futures. In its place, robust public coordination of investment across diverse sectors and geographies appears increasingly urgent. 

For France, ecological planning is now central to the state’s agenda, yet remains conceptually thin and institutionally underspecified. This ambiguity is striking for a country whose postwar experience continues to serve as a global reference point for planning. Today, clarifying the mechanisms that drive ecological planning — both in reality and in aspiration — is essential.

In response, this workshop treats ecological planning not as a slogan, but as a set of instruments and institutions. We will begin by revisiting France’s postwar period to capture how planning has functioned in the past, then turn to ongoing experiments in the contemporary policy landscape, and conclude with a forward-looking discussion of what ecological planning could become.

Programme

9h30 | Morning Coffee 

9h50 | Opening Remarks, Gabriel Kahan (Sciences Po)

10h | Morning Panel —  Postwar Planning: Historical Realities
Antoine Jourdan (EHESS), Alex Amiotte Suchet (ENS Paris-Saclay)

11h30 | Break: Lunch 

12h30 | Afternoon Panel — Ecological Planning: Experiments & Aspirations
Clara Leonard (Institut Avant-Garde) Hannah Bensussan (Universität St. Gallen) Hugo Pompougnac (Espace Marx)

14h | Break

14h15 | Roundtable with Speakers — Future Directions
Panelists and Éric Monnet (Paris School of Economics)