In its carpooling assistance policy, the government has committed “a manifest error of assessment”. This is the observation made by the Council of State in a decision rendered Tuesday June 25 which cancels a key mechanism of support policies for the sector. A snub for the Ministry of Ecological Transition, from which the measure emanates, within the framework of which tens of millions of euros have been distributed since 2023. But also for the Blablacar platform, which was the main beneficiary.
In January 2023, the government implemented several supports to encourage carpooling. These mainly consist of bonuses granted to motorists who register on platforms connecting individuals. The Council of State was thus seized of the subject of financial incentives for long-distance journeys (more than 80 km). These subsidies do not come from state coffers, but from a parapublic windfall: energy savings certificates (EEC). This system, based on the polluter pays principle, requires energy companies to finance energy conservation actions (thermal insulation, rail freight, installation of efficient boilers, etc.) by purchasing certificates, which justify the operations carried out.
Concretely, a CEE sheet on long-distance carpooling was created as part of the carpooling plan. When a driver registers on a dedicated application and validates their first journey, the latter can generate EECs worth around 130 euros, of which 25 euros are returned to the user. A bonus was even granted in 2023, bringing a total of 260 euros to the platform, including 100 euros paid to carpoolers, when three journeys are validated in less than three months.
Energy savings deemed disproportionate
It was the coach company Flixbus which brought this matter before the Council of State. “We considered that this competition was favored by an undue financial windfall”explains to World Charles Billiard, communications manager for the operator. In practice, it is the Blablacar application (also a competitor to Flixbus for coach journeys), which benefits from almost all of the credits on long-distance journeys, as revealed The world in April. It has formed a partnership with TotalEnergies, which buys the majority of these certificates.
Flixbus mainly contested the level of energy savings anticipated by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. As soon as a simple journey of at least 80 km is validated, the long-distance CEE form plans to grant certificates corresponding to more than 20,000 km over twelve years. For the Council of State, “no independent study” placed in the file does not support these calculations.
The court also criticizes “windfall effect” in the implementation of this aid. So, “a large part of those who previously carpooled without using electronic platforms” were able to benefit from the credits. They were also able to encourage carpooling “to the detriment of other more energy-efficient modes of transport”like the train. So many reasons which led the Council of State to cancel the decree creating these bonuses for “excess of power”.
A significant financial loss for Blablacar?
This decision will have direct consequences on the market, as 491,000 motorists benefited from long-distance carpooling assistance in 2023, according to the Ministry of the Economy. These journeys generated a volume of CEE worth around 100 million euros, according to estimates from the World, based on these figures and the market value of the certificates. Almost all of this windfall has so far gone to Blablacar, which has paid around a third to the driver, as provided for in the carpooling plan. The stakes are high for the platform, which achieved a turnover of 253 million euros in 2023.
At World, the Council of State indicates that bonus requests filed following its decision must necessarily be rejected. The cancellation, however, will only be partially retroactive: the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, has the possibility of “withdraw CEEs issued less than four months ago”. Contacted by The worldthe Ministry of the Economy indicates that “the administrations are currently assessing the consequences to be drawn from the decision”. It is also possible that other disputes will soon appear around carpooling EWCs, particularly short-distance ones.
One certainty all the same: “We are not going to ask drivers to reimburse, that would make no sense”, assures Nicolas Brusson, general manager of Blablacar. According to him, the decision “technical” of the Council of State does not call into question the merits of carpooling. He also rejects the institution’s questioning of the estimated energy savings: “We provided a lot of data to the administration. We can’t make it more traceable. » The manager therefore hopes for the upcoming publication of a new decree so that CEE bonuses for long-distance carpooling are put back in place. However, the platform does not intend to legally challenge the decision.