The State Budget for 2027, approved in general terms, falls short of what is necessary for forest protection, climate adaptation, and green taxation, said Quercus yesterday.
“Investment is insufficient in areas such as the defense of the forest against fires, sustainable agriculture, and environmental education, and it also errs by being vague or omissive about the distribution of funds across the various strategic plans for nature conservation and biodiversity,” defended the association.
Quercus stressed that only 8% of the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Sea goes to forests.
“The OE 2027 continues to be reactive and focused on fighting fires, neglecting the transition of the landscape,” the environmental organization wrote in a document criticizing the distribution of funds: “There is a clear disproportion in the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Sea, amounting to 1,647 million euros, with forests and natural resources receiving an investment of only 8% of that pie, the sea and fisheries 5%, leaving the largest share allocated to agriculture, rural development and innovation.”
For Quercus, this is “a clear sign of underinvestment” in the forest sector, in a context of the national territory facing “extreme vulnerability” to climate change.
“There is a lack of support for the transition to chemistry-free and climate-adapted agriculture within the agriculture, rural development and innovation sector,” lamented the association.
In the context of climate action, Quercus pointed to the stagnation or proportional reduction of direct funds allocated to adapting to climate change as “highly problematic.”
“As the document itself states, 83% of green expenditure is allocated to mitigation measures, while adaptation accounts for only 17% of that budget. Given the country’s growing vulnerability to extreme events — such as severe droughts, recurrent storms, and disastrous rural wildfires — it is urgent to reinforce the financial endowment for direct intervention in the territory to increase ecological and water resilience, rather than focusing climate action excessively on mitigation and technological transition,” said Quercus, based on the analysis of the bill.
The association also criticized the lack of specific information about certain funds and suggested that the generic indicators presented be accompanied by concrete targets.
In waste and energy, the 2027 State Budget remains “not very ambitious” in prevention and the circular economy, according to Quercus.
“In energy, the OE 2027 allocates €842 million to the respective program, betting on renewables, storage, networks and electrification. These directions are positive, but accelerating projects cannot reduce the requirement to protect biodiversity, land-use planning and the participation of local communities,” warned the environmental advocacy organization.
Quercus also considered the measures for energy efficiency and fighting energy poverty insufficiently concrete.
“The objective occupies a single sentence, without measures or timetable, and includes Action 2.1 (694 M€) without discrimination of funds, whereas grids and storage have stated measures and investments,” it states.
Among the structural changes proposed by Quercus to the OE 2027, are the strengthening and decentralization of climate adaptation, with the inscription of an autonomous budget line dedicated exclusively to adaptation measures to climate risks (rehabilitation of floodplains, preservation of native green patches, creation and promotion of tree cover in cities).
The creation of a direct financing line for the execution of the Municipal Plans for Adaptation to Climate Change and the creation of Climate Refuge Networks are other ideas advanced, as well as a significant increase in the ICNF budget and the creation of dedicated budget lines for biodiversity conservation, “ending the exclusive dependence on the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and temporary funds.”
