The challenge
Housing produces a third of Paris’s emissions, and many social tenants face high heating costs.
The case
Since 2008 the City of Paris has set energy targets for social landlords and paid subsidies for whole-building renovations: insulating walls, roofs and floors, replacing windows and upgrading heating. Between 2008 and 2024 the city gave €829 million in grants, mobilising €3.8 billion of investment to renovate 921 housing groups with about 73,444 homes. The city says renovated buildings cut energy use by 54% on average and greenhouse gas emissions by 56%, and that tenants’ charges fall by about €400 a year per household. Only 14% of Paris’s social homes have been renovated so far, and the city now aims for 5,000 a year to meet its climate plan.
Why it worked
Steady city subsidies tied to strict performance targets delivered large savings per building, but at roughly 5,000 homes a year the stock of more than 270,000 social homes will take decades to cover; the savings figures are the city’s own averages on the Cep energy indicator.
Sources
- Bloomberg Philanthropies. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Renovating and retrofitting aging public buildings. Cities Idea Exchange.
- Ville de Paris. La rénovation des logements sociaux, un enjeu social et environnemental pour Paris. Paris.fr.
- Ville de Paris (2021). Paris va rénover 5000 logements sociaux chaque année. Paris.fr.
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