Green Fund 2026: in which cases can mapping be funded by a local authority?

Renewed in 2026 with a budget of €837 million, the Green Fund confirms its role as a major lever to accelerate the local ecological transition. Since its creation in 2023, it has already supported 25,000 projects led by local stakeholders, for a total of €4.5 billion in grants, with a funding logic focused as closely as possible on the territories. The scheme remains structured around three pillars — environmental performance, adaptation to climate change and improvement of living conditions — and relies on decentralized management by prefects, with applications submitted via Aides-territoires and the Démarche numérique tool.

In 2026, the signal is very clear: adaptation to climate change becomes a priority, with a particular emphasis on flood prevention. The guide intended for local decision-makers specifies that this pillar now represents a central part of the Green Fund, and that the 2026 priorities primarily concern adaptation actions, flooding, energy-efficient renovation of buildings and land-use restraint. The Green Fund is also presented as the preferred tool for financing projects included in local ecological planning documents, such as PCAETs, CRTEs or the roadmaps resulting from regional COPs.

It is in this context that a question often comes up among local authorities: can a map be funded? The answer is yes, but under one essential condition: the map must not be seen as a standalone deliverable. It must be part of an eligible measure, address a concrete territorial issue and serve to improve knowledge, objectify a vulnerability, prepare a strategy or prioritize actions. In other words, the Green Fund does not finance a map “just to produce a map”; it finances mapping when it becomes a tool to support local public decision-making.

There is no general list of “eligible cities”

This is an important point to clarify from the outset. The 2026 guide does not present a general list of cities that would be eligible “by principle” for mapping. Eligibility depends on the measure used, the type of territory, the project lead and the direct link between the mapping and a funded action. A municipality, an intermunicipality, a mixed syndicate or another local contracting authority may therefore be concerned, but only if its project falls within the framework of an open Green Fund measure.

First very concrete case: municipalities and intermunicipalities facing flood risk

The first major case in which a map can be funded concerns flood prevention. The guide specifies that the 2026 Green Fund intervenes for actions that are not eligible for the Barnier Fund, especially when there is no PPRN in the area or when the other rules for mobilizing this fund do not allow the action to be financed. Supported projects may focus on improving knowledge of the risk, particularly of runoff phenomena, on vulnerability assessments and on works to reduce the vulnerability of public buildings. Eligible applicants are local authorities or their groupings, acting as the project owner for prevention or protection studies and actions.

This means that a municipality can have a map financed when it is used to locate exposed areas, understand runoff, rank vulnerable public buildings or prepare a vulnerability-reduction program. The guide even adds that in 2026, the Green Fund will specifically help rural municipalities exposed to flood risk, not covered by a PAPI, by supporting the reduction of the vulnerability of their public buildings. For these authorities, mapping becomes a very practical tool to objectify priorities and build a solid application.

Second very explicit case: coastal municipalities affected by shoreline retreat

The clearest case in the 2026 guide is that of the adaptation of coastal areas to shoreline retreat. There, the Green Fund explicitly co-finances the development of shoreline observatories, local shoreline retreat projection maps, local integrated management strategies, prefiguration studies to initiate spatial reconfiguration, as well as certain soft-management and reconfiguration actions. The guide also mentions adaptation or relocation works for open-air hotel facilities directly affected by shoreline retreat, which makes this measure particularly important for coastal tourist municipalities.

But here, territorial eligibility is more targeted. The text states that the measure concerns the local authorities listed in the decree whose urban planning action and land-use policy must be adapted to shoreline retreat. It also specifies that in 2025, two-thirds of the funding for this measure was used to support the preparation of local exposure maps. In short, a coastal municipality is not eligible simply because it is located by the sea: it must fall within the targeted regulatory scope and integrate its mapping into a logic of knowledge, local strategy or reconfiguration.