Sustainabilities: the Future of Policies, Policies for the Future

Might economic planning be coming back into favour in France, as the announcement in May 2022 of the creation of a General Secretariat for Ecological Planning within the office of the Prime Minister seems to indicate—a development more promising, we may hope, than the creation of the High Commission for the Plan in September 2020? If nothing very concrete has as yet come of these new institutional bodies, the mere fact that long-term thinking has officially regained a central place in French institutions is good news. It remains to be seen how this effort at planning will be conceived and implemented. On this question, the studies undertaken by France Stratégie over the last two years, which culminated in the report entitled “Sustainabilities! Orchestrating and Planning Public Action”, provide a solid base. Johanna Barasz and Hélène Garner, who coordinated that report, outline the main lessons from it here, keeping the much-vaunted ‘long-term perspective’ front and centre, alongside (with a particular concern for the climate, environmental and social context) the need to introduce a new frame of reference, in which the future has pride of place in public decision-making and action. Taking the future into account and respecting the various ‘sustainabilities’ that the ecological, demographic, technological transitions etc. require, while remaining within a framework of democratic, deliberative procedure—such is the challenge to be faced. This article examines the issues raised, and proposes various recommendations whereby public action can find a sustainable response to them.