The Vaud State Council wants to strengthen support to municipalities for the development of their climate plan. A new envelope of 8 million francs is proposed.
Such climate plans are now imposed on all municipalities in the canton. The obligation, which appears in the Vaud Constitution, was supported last June by the people. “The municipalities can no longer do nothing,” State Councilor Christelle Luisier reminded the press in Cully on Monday.
The canton, however, wishes to “support” the municipalities in this process, especially small and medium-sized ones which have not yet undertaken anything, added the minister.
She recalled that subsidy programs already existed, including the Municipal Energy and Climate Plan (PECC), already requested by 80 municipalities since 2021. The credit of 8 million francs presented on Monday, and which must still be validated by the Grand Council , aims to “expand” this support.
The subsidy must be used in particular for “technical support” and can be up to 20,000 francs per year. It will allow a municipality to get help from an expert to develop its climate plan, indicated Christelle Luisier.
Financial “trigger”
With this new credit, the Council of State also wishes to further network municipalities in order to “share good practices”, but also to strengthen the support provided by the Cantonal Sustainability and Climate Office (OCDC). The completion of certain “targeted” projects is also planned with this envelope.
Also present Monday in front of the press, Jean-Yves Cavin, municipal in Bourg-en-Lavaux, explained how the PECC had been a financial “trigger”. From 2022, it has enabled the municipality to surround itself with experts and put in place a catalog of measures: creation of an energy fund, development of a guide for the installation of solar panels or even new public lighting.
The municipal official praised the “effectiveness” of an “action-oriented” tool whose first effects are already being deployed in his municipality. Christelle Luisier also stressed the need to propose “pragmatic” approaches for “concrete” application on the ground.
She added that the municipalities retained their margin of maneuver to define their action plan. In addition to the PECC approaches, other programs and strategies are possible in the canton, such as the Cité de l’énergie label, mainly used by cities.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
