In France, various environmental responsibilities (living environment, water, air, soil, biodiversity), energy, waste, and sustainable development have progressively been assigned by the legislator to local authorities. These responsibilities are either sovereign and mandatory, or, in some cases, optional. In all cases, they are primarily governed by the and the .
These responsibilities have evolved and will continue to evolve, within the framework of ongoing decentralization through successive reforms of municipal responsibilities and decentralization laws, as well as within the framework of the .
Within the framework of new decentralization laws expected to be implemented between 2010 and 2020, certain local authorities will be designated as "lead authority" for specific responsibilities to improve the coherence and complementarity of their actions within the same environmental field, particularly through Local Agenda 21 initiatives. Local authorities account for an increasing share of expenditure related to environmental protection.
Overseas collectivities may have specific responsibilities due to their isolated geopolitical situation and their rich environmental heritage.
History The environmental responsibilities of local authorities were formalized with the emergence of environmental law, generally with a focus on subsidiarity and complementarity. They have evolved in response to growing awareness of emerging issues or even global crises, requiring local and differentiated solutions and/or adaptations to global problems (e.g., energy crises, biodiversity crises, acid rain, climate crisis, seismic risks, eutrophication, and general environmental acidification, widespread pesticide pollution, etc.).
The transfer of responsibilities and the emergence of new responsibilities have led to, according to the IFEN from 2000 to 2007:
The majority of these expenditures are made by municipalities and general councils for wastewater management and waste.
Environmental responsibilities by type of local authority
Region The region primarily has responsibility for spatial planning, translated through the development and periodic revision of a . It is supported in this field (and others) by the (CERESE).
Waste The Regions must adhere to two main types of plans.
Regional and interregional plans for the prevention and management of hazardous waste On , the Minister for the Environment, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, established a national plan for the prevention and management of waste; it aims to prevent and reduce, where possible at the source, the production and harmfulness of waste, promote their reuse (circular economy), reduce the overall impacts of resource use, and improve the efficiency of their use. Each region must establish its regional and interregional plan for the prevention and management of hazardous waste.
The draft plan is developed at the initiative and under the responsibility of the President of the Regional Council, made available to the public for two months, then approved by a resolution of the regional council and published.
Regional plan for the disposal of industrial and special waste Each region is covered by a (PREDIS).
Special case of Île-de-France The Île-de-France must manage, in addition to these two plans, the disposal of household waste and similar waste.
Water and sanitation The region must participate in the (SAGE) and the Schéma directeur d'aménagement et de gestion des eaux (SDAGE). The region must manage the development, maintenance, and operation of watercourses, canals, lakes, and bodies of water.
Public transport To reduce pollution and congestion during peak hours, the region manages the organization of regional rail transport with SNCF, a French public company. It develops a , which became the Regional Infrastructure and Transport Plan (SRIT) in 1983.
Natural spaces The region has several responsibilities related to natural spaces. It must conduct inventories of natural heritage and local inventories (e.g., through a ). It is responsible for regional nature parks (PNR) and national nature reserves (RNR).
Through the (SRCE), it ensures the landscape ecology coherence of the Green and Blue infrastructure (Regional committees develop, monitor, and update regional ecological coherence plans, prefiguring future green and blue frameworks, ensuring consistency with the national Green and Blue Framework guidelines and the SDAGEs).
Department The department has limited environmental responsibilities. One of its mandatory responsibilities is the management of (ENS). It also primarily acts in the field of waste. Alongside these few responsibilities, the general council may also undertake voluntary actions in the field of environment and sustainable development.
Departmental estates The department can act in the field of environment and sustainable development through and with its heritage. These are referred to as departmental estates. Thus, it may choose to enhance, protect, or even have this heritage labeled or ecocertified, possibly as part of a departmental Agenda 21 by incorporating environmental awareness. These actions concern departmental parks (Parc Départemental du Morbras in Sucy-en-Brie), leisure bases (the three departmental bases in Tarn), lakes (the lakes of Cher), and sites and estates with specific characteristics (Domaine de Restinclières in Hérault).
The department can also contribute to the preservation of forest resources through departmental forests.
Household and similar waste disposal plan were made mandatory by the law of . Their development is the responsibility of the Prefect or the Departmental Council. Their purpose is to encourage and coordinate actions to modernize the management of household and similar waste by local authorities. The plan, as defined at the departmental level, generally includes four elements:
Objectives for waste recycling and recovery to be achieved; Collections and facilities to be implemented to meet the objectives; Timelines to be respected; Assessments of the investments to be made.
These plans are significant because, once approved, they are binding on public entities and their concessionaires in the department's territory. All actions undertaken by them must be compatible with the plan. Thus, it holds genuine legal and environmental value.
Since the circular of from the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environment, a general revision of the oldest plans has been sought. Indeed, while these initial plans demonstrated the departments' willingness to act for the environment through waste management, they placed too much emphasis on incineration
Water When the department decides to invest in protecting one of the world's most precious resources, this can involve its sanitation, drinking water, the management of watersheds, or the construction of hydraulic structures.
Sanitation Sanitation, like drinking water, is not a responsibility of the departments. It falls under the jurisdiction of municipalities, which may transfer this responsibility to an EPCI (particularly with regard to ) or a mixed syndicate. However, this does not prevent the department from taking action in this area. It can intervene to provide expertise and utilize its capabilities. Thus, it can technically and financially support municipalities in the construction and management of sewage collection networks and wastewater treatment plants (STEP).
Additionally, there is participation, alongside the water agency, in financing the Technical Assistance Service for Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators (SATESE), a departmental service of the General Council. E.g.: Service d'Assistance Technique aux Exploitants de Stations d'Épuration (SATESE) of the Hérault department.
The department's sanitation service is present to meet the needs of municipalities in the aforementioned areas (expertise, assistance, etc.). It also fulfills a general coordination role with the various authorities responsible for Non-Collective Sanitation (ANC), in collaboration with water agencies. It promotes coordination among different stakeholders, encourages exchanges, and ensures technical and regulatory oversight.
The department may also develop departmental charters. These are less binding than departmental plans and are based on voluntarism, in the spirit of sustainable development and stakeholder engagement to implement certain international commitments of France.
Finally, through departmental sanitation plans, the department can initiate studies to better understand the future needs of its territory. Several General Councils have opted for the drafting of such plans: Deux-Sèvres department.
The special case of the Petite Couronne departments in Paris:
The Hauts-de-Seine (92), Seine-Saint-Denis (93), and Val-de-Marne (94) departments own the sanitation network and handle the collection and transport of effluents (but not the management of wastewater treatment plants). This is a special case that constitutes an exception to the principle that only municipalities are responsible for sanitation. Wastewater treatment in the Paris region is a critical issue due to the high population density: the quality of the entire network is paramount and justifies direct intervention by the departments.
Thus, municipalities exercise their sanitation responsibilities only with regard to local collection and transport. The effluents collected in the municipalities' territories are transported to the facilities of the Interdepartmental Syndicate for the Sanitation of the Paris Agglomeration (SIAAP) via the departmental network.
Watersheds and hydraulic structures The departmental level also acts in the management of watersheds and hydraulic structures, whether as a local authority or as a deconcentrated administrative level.
Departments regularly act in the field of water by participating in watershed management, particularly when they are part of Mixed Syndicates.Participation of the Hérault Department in several mixed syndicates, particularly intermunicipal syndicates. Finally, as part of a policy of risk prevention and balanced water management, departmental authorities may own large dams, the operation of which may be delegated to a private company (Barrage des Olivettes in Vailhan) or small dams that they directly own (Jeantou dam in Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers).
Finally, the department contributes to the development of SDAGEs and , whether through state services for the drafting and organization of public consultations or through the General Council for informing populations during the implementation of these two plans or ensuring their effective application.
Energy In terms of energy, the department also has a role to play since the Grenelle Environment Forum. Indeed, it required departments and municipalities with more than inhabitants to draft and adopt (PCET) by the end of 2012. These documents are action plans at the departmental level. They start with an assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and aim to reduce them.
The Departmental Council may also provide grants to individuals, local authorities, or actors in non-competitive sectors (e.g., medico-social establishments) to encourage them to develop and adopt renewable energy production systems.
Finally, in addition to national regulations, it may draft texts to guide various actors (public or private) in encouraging the development of renewable energy production systems and the adoption of eco-responsible behavior.
Municipality Municipalities hold major responsibilities in environmental matters. In addition to the mayor's inherent public health authority, municipalities are responsible for drinking water supply, wastewater sanitation, waste collection and treatment, air pollution control through local transport plans, and coastal enhancement.
Waste