Contenu du sommaire : Actualité de la pensée d'Yves Martin
Revue | Responsabilité et environnement |
---|---|
Numéro | no 65, janvier 2012 |
Titre du numéro | Actualité de la pensée d'Yves Martin |
Texte intégral en ligne | Accessible sur l'internet |
- Avant-propos - Pierre Boisson, Pierre Couveinhes p. 4-6
- Brève chronologie : Yves Martin (1936 – 2010) - p. 7
A – Actes du colloque du 19 mai 2011
- Allocution d'ouverture du colloque du 19 mai 2011 - Thierry Gaudin p. 8
- Le rôle d'Yves Martin à la tête de l'agence financière de bassin d'Artois Picardie - Ivan Cheret p. 9-10 The relevancy of Yves Martin'S ideas
Yves Martin, who passed away in 2010, pursued a career in the French administration. He exercised decisive influence on public policies in fields related to the environment, risks and energy. The issues that he addressed are still on the agenda; and many of the instruments that he proposed have turned out to be, now more than ever, the right responses to questions involving our country's, or even the planet's, future.The first part of this special issue groups accounts from persons who had professional contacts with Yves Martin and attended a colloquium held on 19 May 2011 at Mines ParisTech. In the second part, texts by Yves Martin have been arranged under five major headings, each introduced by a specialist. - Yves Martin et l'eau - Jean-Luc Laurent p. 11-12 Water and the environment
Yves Martin thought that economic incentives are more effective than regulations for managing a natural resource such as water, since they lead individuals to adopt behaviors in line with the general interest. His vision of the right management of water resources can be summarized as follows: “Watercourses and groundwater should be sufficiently replenished, and water should be of good quality and fill users' needs at a minimum cost for the community while conserving aquatic environments”.He defended these principles when criticizing the legislation applied to water resources. According to him, it was not judicious to establish a Malthusian set of regulations that subjected catchment to obtaining prior authorization and considerably restricted access to water under ground. On the contrary, he felt that public interventions should rely on incentives for drawing groundwater (at least from most aquifers) rather than using surface water. For this purpose, he proposed combining financial incentives (geographically modulated in significant ways depending on the aquifer) with regulations about how to protect this resource and about the technical conditions for tapping it (the duty to measure the quantity). The job of providing economic incentives should be handed over to water agencies (operating on a system of privileges and royalties) whereas the actions of regulation and prevention should be the duty of services that police the water supply. Public authorities should use the most effective tools and know how to combine them: regulation through water royalties, financial incentives and, if need be, penal sanctions.Yves Martin called for heavily adjusting water royalties so as to send an economic signal to users. To work as an incentive, royalties should be set high enough to affect stakeholders. Instead of being uniform, rates should take into account the costs of the measures users have to adopt for the general interest. This entailed criticism of the French fiscal tradition with its preference for low rates and a broad tax base. - L'effet de serre, la forêt, l'agriculture - Dominique Dron p. 13-15 The greenhouse effect, climate and forests
Given the countries that had not signed the Kyoto Protocol but will significantly increase their emissions of greenhouse gases, Yves Martin was, in 2002, pessimistic about reaching the objectives set under the agreement for 2012. By 2007, he was skeptical about defining a priori a formula for fairly distributing emission targets among countries. The 2009 Copenhagen Conference proved him right...He also had reservations about a system of tradeable permits for greenhouse gases, since it would be hard to control and subject to strong speculation. Instead, he incessantly argued for a worldwide carbon tax. Its effectiveness would mainly depend on how progressive it would be and on how foreseeable the adjustment of its rates would be, with steady increases to a high level in the long run. Such a tax would send a signal about prices and motivate all parties to change behaviors related to both consumption and production. For Yves Martin, a carbon tax would allow for economic development since it makes it possible to:formulate a response to social issues. As a counterpart to the consequent price hikes in fossil fuels, he advocated lowering the TVA for certain products and reducing the Social Security taxes withheld on wages. In an article written with Michel Rocard, he pointed out that wages account for 38% of the Social Security budget as compared with 3,5% from fossil fuels.improve competitiveness, under condition that the WTO adopt measures for compensating firms in the lands that promise to reduce emissions.develop materials or processes (for instance, the timber industry) that emit less greenhouse gas.Yves Martin made two observations about the French forest: the harvest of wood has more or less stagnated in recent decades, and the average price of the wood harvested has been cut in three or even four over the last thirty years. Establishing a carbon tax on fossil fuels would lead to a new equilibrium in favor of wood by increasing both the consumption of this material and, concomitantly, its price. This would have a positive impact on the environment, since timber sustainably stocks CO2 like a well-managed forest. A carbon tax would thus be profitable to French forests while reducing the budget deficit (by scaling back expenditures for the fight against greenhouse gases) and lowering unemployment (by decreasing wage taxes). - Yves Martin, un militant des économies d'énergie - Benjamin Dessus p. 16-17
- La maîtrise de la demande énergétique - Claire Tutenuit p. 18-20 Energy policy and controlling demand
Yves Martin constantly defended the idea that energy policy should not be reduced to supply-side considerations. It also had to take into account factors related to demand and consumption.Already in 1974, he maintained that — given the necessarily diffuse, complex nature of actions for saving energy and given the commercial force of those who, producing and selling energy, are inclined to push consumption up rather than down — a public agency was needed that would be responsible for “selling” the idea of saving energy. Thus was created the Agence pour les Économies d'Énergie (AEE), which, in 1982, became the Agence Française pour la Maîtrise de l'Énergie (AFME), and then, in 1991, the Agence de l'Environment et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie (ADEME).Yves Martin constantly argued that economic leverage should be used in the field of energy. Setting prices so as to send a signal to market forces was, he thought, the most effective way to convince users to consume less. For the sake of fairness and to obtain social acceptance of his ideas, he claimed that the proposed increase in energy taxes could be offset by lowering other taxes (in particular those affecting labor costs, whence a positive impact on joblessness). His discussion of a carbon tax for limiting greenhouse gases advanced a similar argument about a “double dividends” system.Yves Martin always supported long-term measures with a foreseeable calendar so that stakeholders be forewarned and adapt their behaviors. He valued structural policies that were not to be dictated by the business cycle alone (in particular by oil prices). For these long-term policies, he emphasized the need to act on behaviors and reduce needs instead of relying exclusively on scientific progress and reduced consumption.His steadfast ideas with regard to energy policy were characterized by a demanding precision and a remarkable capacity for anticipating the future. - Fiscalité, environnement et gestion des ressources naturelles - Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel p. 21-26 Economic instruments
Yves Martin fondly recalled that Maurice Allais and Marcel Boiteux had aroused in him a curiosity for economics equal to the interest he already had in engineering. These two professors at the École des Mines led him to discover the utility of economic instruments for managing scarce resources and protecting the environment.Environmental taxes should, in his opinion, be “heavy, not specifically attributed to protecting the environment but also devoted to covering general public expenditures”. These “ecotaxes” would be set at a “rate programmed to gradually increase over several years to allow for technological anticipations and an optimized choice of investments”. Their high rate would do much to restrain behaviors harmful to the environment. There was, he pointed out, a difference between these “genuine” green taxes and the taxes that were called “ecological” because the receipts were handed over to funds for protecting the environment.Yves Martin — one of the first persons to call for the creation of water agencies — thought the importance of this action lay less in the subsidies to be distributed by these agencies than in the royalties they would take in. These royalties were to send a signal that would make all stakeholders realize the value of the resource they were tapping and the cost of the pollution they were producing. Yves Martin's approach to environmental taxes was original in many respects:It identified the structural problems that this fiscal system should address (for example, the use of automobiles and highway transportation, or the value of forests).These fiscal measures were part of a global program with agencies organized to manage it (the water agencies, ADEME, the interministerial mission on greenhouse gases).This fiscal reform had a macroecomic dimension that would favor the development of a competitive economy and of social justice owing to lower wage taxes.An analysis was made of the potential deviant effects of these fiscal measures, which might lead to economic decisions that were not optimal or that wasted public funds.These thoughts about environmental taxes are valuable in the current context as we face the crucial issues of managing resources, fighting against global warming, improving the competitiveness of our economy, and balancing public budgets. - Yves Martin : la « Statue du Commandeur » - André-Claude Lacoste p. 27-28 Nuclear safety
Yves Martin also proved to be a visionary and pragmatist in matters related to nuclear energy, evidence of this being the note he sent to François Mitterrand on 18 February 1975, when the Socialist Party was in the opposition. This note emphasized that the risk of an accident, though quite limited, could not be fully eliminated. Yves Martin called for “transparency” in order to avoid arousing a groundless anxiety in public opinion and, too, for international consultations in order to “harmonize” regulations for designing, building and supervising nuclear reactors.He also wanted all services responsible for nuclear safety to be grouped together in an independent agency under the Prime Minister. He thus foresaw the Agence de Sécurité Nucléaire (ASN), created under Act no 2006-686 of 13 June 2006 (the so-called “TSN law” on transparency and nuclear security). - L'esprit de service public - Paul-Henri Bourrelier p. 29-30
- Des valeurs transmises aux plus jeunes - Gilles Taldu p. 31
B - Cinq domaines d'intervention d'Yves Martin
- Présentation d'une sélection de textes d'Yves Martin concernant l'eau et l'environnement - Jean-Luc Laurent p. 32-33
- Les eaux souterraines, une ressource méconnue et sous-exploitée : Note rédigée pour le colloque sur l'hydrogéologie tenu à La Villette en septembre 1990 - Yves Martin p. 34-37
- La gestion de l'eau : Note en date du 11 juin 2001 - Yves Martin p. 38-40
- Projet de loi sur l'eau : Note en date du 10 décembre 2001, sous en-tête du Conseil Général des mines - Yves Martin p. 41-44
- Présentation d'une sélection de textes d'Yves Martin concernant l'effet de serre, le climat et la forêt - Dominique Dron p. 45-47
- Les « instruments économiques » (taxes et permis négociables) appliqués à la prévention de l'effet de serre : Note en date du 4 mars 2002 - Yves Martin p. 48-51
- Quels instruments pour diviser par deux les émissions mondiales de CO2? : Note en date du 23 mars 2007 - Yves Martin p. 52-56
- Taxer le carbone plutôt qu'instaurer des obligations de résultat : Note en date du 6 janvier 2008 - Yves Martin p. 57-58
- Taxe carbone : Article publié le 9 janvier 2010 dans le journal Le Monde - Yves Martin, Michel Rocard p. 59-60
- Négociation internationale sur le climat : Note en date du 17 octobre 2009, retouchée le 19 janvier 2010 - Yves Martin p. 61-63
- Face au changement du climat, à l'épuisement des énergies fossiles accéléré par la croissance de la Chine et de l'inde, et au financement des retraites futures, quelle politique pour la forêt française ? : Note en date du 27 décembre 2006 - Yves Martin p. 64-65
- La forêt face au changement du climat : Exposé présenté le 5 août 2005 à Florac, lors de la réunion d'information sur « La sylviculture et les changements climatiques », organisée par le Centre régional de la propriété forestière du Languedoc-roussillon - Yves Martin p. 66-84
- Présentation d'une sélection de textes d'Yves Martin concernant la politique énergétique et la maîtrise de la demande - Virginie Schwarz p. 85-87
- Les économies d'énergie : Note en date du 7 juillet 1974 proposant au ministre de l'Industrie la création d'une agence pour les économies d'énergie - Yves Martin p. 88-90
- Vingt ans de maîtrise de l'énergie (1973-1993) : Note non datée - Yves Martin p. 91-95
- La politique énergétique : agir sur la demande d'énergie, pas seulement sur l'offre : Note en date du 23 février 2007 - Yves Martin p. 96-98
- Présentation d'une sélection de textes d'Yves Martin sur les instruments économiques - Dominique Bureau p. 99-101
- Fiscalité écologique : Note en date du 30 mars 1993, retouchée le 22 septembre 1997 - Yves Martin p. 102-104
- Exposé devant le Conseil général du Génie rural, des Eaux et des Forêts (G.R.E.F) en janvier 1999 - Yves Martin p. 105-109
- L'optimisation de la réponse au risque de changement du climat : Exposé présenté à l'Institut Montaigne le 8 octobre 2002 - Yves Martin p. 110-113
- L'état du dispositif d'incitation à la réduction des émissions de CO2 : Note en date du 18 mars 2006, rédigée en vue d'une audition par la Mission « effet de serre » de l'Assemblée Nationale - Yves Martin p. 114-116
- Quels outils pour un « développement durable » ? - Yves Martin p. 117-123
- Problèmes de sécurité et de nuisances posés par les centrales nucléaires : Note en date du 18 février 1975 adressée à François Mitterrand, à une époque où le Parti socialiste, alors dans l'opposition, s'interrogeait sur ce que pourrait être sa future politique énergétique - Yves Martin p. 124-126