French people's savings, which have been steadily increasing since the confinement, will be used to finance the construction of bridges, social housing, clean bus networks and renewable energies, Caisse des Dépôts announced on September 7. Most of the funds will be spent over the next two years.
Livret A: 27 billion euros collected since the start of the year
The year 2020 promises to be exceptional for the Livret A, which collected almost 27 billion euros in the first 8 months of the year, compared with 12.6 billion euros in 2019. Trends are similar for the Livret de développement durable et solidaire (LDDS), another investment managed by Caisse des Dépôts, dedicated to the social economy and energy savings in housing. In the first half of the year, 439.5 billion euros were invested in these two savings products, according to official figures.
6 billion euros dedicated to the ecological transition
Following the presentation of the government's €100 billion stimulus package, Caisse des Dépôts has revealed its own investment program.
While its usual rate of investment is around twenty billion euros over 5 years, the institution plans to invest even more to contribute to the post-Covid recovery plan. Specifically, 26 billion euros will be spent.
CDC will devote 6.3 billion euros to the ecological transition to develop fleets of 11,000 vehicles (electric, natural gas and hydrogen vehicles) for local authorities. The aim is also to provide an additional 50,000 charging stations across the country.
Financing 170,000 social housing units
A long-standing player in the social housing sector, Caisse des Dépôts is to invest 11.1 billion euros to accelerate the construction of new social housing units. Caregivers, who were particularly hard hit during the Covid-19 crisis, will benefit, along with other workers, from a plan to build 5,000 housing units. In all, nearly 170,000 homes will be financed, including 40,000 built with our own funds.
Last but not least, 500 million euros will be invested in social cohesion by improving the integration of disabled people into the workforce, and creating or renovating 15,000 places in long-term care facilities, with " 6,500 spin-off jobs ".
10 billion euros invested per year for 2 years
Éric Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of Caisse des Dépôts, points out that 10 billion euros per year will be invested over the next 2 years, whereas pre-crisis planning forecast an investment of 4 billion euros per year.
So, while since the beginning of the deconfinement process, the government has been seeking to better target French savings, CDC will now be able to devote itself to four major projects: social housing, thermal renovation of buildings, clean transport and social cohesion.