The Ecological Budget Authority
The Authority determines the quantities within which the whole economy of the Republic operates. The budgets bind the plan, the planning organs, the executive committees, the communes, the regions, the cooperatives and every licensed entity.
Budgets in force, period 2026 to 2031
Greenhouse gas emissions612 of 612 Mt CO2e
Expressed as a total remaining quantity and not as an annual allowance. Consumption at the present rate reaches the total in 2076.
Energy throughput214 of 228 TWh per year
Within the ceiling. The Constitution caps aggregate throughput at a safe level and directs efficiency gains to sufficiency.
Materials throughput96.4 of 94.0 Mt per year
Above the ceiling by 2.6 per cent. The excess is under audit and the apportionment for the following period has been reduced.
Water abstraction2840 of 3100 Gl per year
Within the ceiling. The Quintorum basin is in local deficit and is subject to a stricter limit adopted under Article 25(5).
Land conversion and sealing1180 of 1100 ha per year
Above the ceiling. Sealing is measured over centuries of recovery, and the Commissioner for Future Generations has published an opinion.
Habitat held in protection1.84 of 1.75 M ha
A floor and not a ceiling. The area in protection exceeds the minimum required.
Restoration owed in the period41.2 of 41.2 k ha
A minimum quantity fixed for each period. Progress is published quarterly and stands at 26 per cent of the obligation.
The mark on each bar shows the limit. Full figures, methods, models and assumptions are published.
Contents of a budget
The heads are set: energy, materials, greenhouse gases, water, land conversion and sealing, habitat, and the minimum restoration owed in each period. Each is stated in a physical unit. The emissions budget is a cumulative total remaining, so the figure that governs is the year in which the total is reached.
Two lines above the limit
Materials throughput stands 2.6 per cent above its ceiling, and land conversion above its own. Article 26(2) makes a plan, programme, licence, permit, contract or administrative act void to the extent that it exceeds an applicable budget. Article 26(4) halts production dependent upon an exhausted allocation, and gives the essential provision of Title IV priority over all other use.
The Audit Office keeps the register of departures at enterprise level, and the Commissioner for Future Generations has published an opinion on the land figure.
Petition for revision
Article 25(4): any person may petition for revision upon new evidence. The Authority answers within ninety days, and its refusal is reviewable under Article 27.
Article 25(6): revision that raises a ceiling requires published evidence that the higher figure remains within documented regenerative capacity, together with the concurring opinion of the scientific institutions organic law designates.