Six years of environmental promises, announced energy revolutions and persistent ecological realities.
When sustainability becomes a communication exercise
Between 2019 and 2025, Mauritian budgets gradually adopted the language of sustainable development. Energy transition, climate resilience, circular economy, blue economy, carbon neutrality, ecosystem protection, green finance: rarely has a government spoken so much about the environment. Listening to successive budget speeches, Mauritius seemed committed to a profound transformation aimed at making the island a regional model of sustainability.
Yet, behind the announcements, strategies, and roadmaps, the fundamental challenges remain largely unchanged. The country continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels, its lagoons are under increasing pressure, its coral reefs are deteriorating, wastewater treatment remains limited, marine protection remains marginal, and environmental planning still suffers from a lack of institutional coherence. Over the years, Mauritius has undeniably refined its environmental rhetoric; however, the transformation of its development model seems to be progressing at a much slower pace.
2019–2020: The birth of the “green Mauritius”
The 2019–2020 budget marks the official entry of sustainable development into the national economic narrative. For the first time, renewable energies, electric mobility, the fight against plastic pollution, waste management and climate adaptation become central elements of the government’s discourse.
The announcements are ambitious: development of solar photovoltaic systems on public buildings, promotion of electric vehicles, measures against single-use plastics, and support for the ocean economy. Mauritius is suddenly discovering the virtues of the energy transition after several decades of dependence on coal and oil.
However, the results remain modest. Solar projects are progressing, but slowly. Electricity production remains largely dominated by fossil fuels and independent power producers. As for waste management, it continues to rely primarily on landfill, while the circular economy remains more of a conference concept than an economic reality.
This budget has primarily served to introduce the vocabulary of sustainability into public policy. The green revolution is heralded; the energy model, however, remains remarkably faithful to its old ways.
2020–2021: The pandemic and the return of classical development
The arrival of COVID-19 has disrupted national priorities. The health and economic emergency has relegated environmental concerns to the background. The recovery relies primarily on infrastructure, major public works projects, and support for economic activity.
However, many international and local experts viewed the pandemic as a unique opportunity to build a green recovery based on renewable energy, energy efficiency, ecosystem restoration, and climate resilience. Mauritius chose a different path.
References to sustainability remain present in the discourse, but they are losing their priority. The ecological transition is becoming a long-term objective while immediate concerns occupy most of the political agenda.
As in many countries, the health crisis has become the perfect pretext for postponing certain structural reforms. The country is rapidly rebuilding its economy, but without truly questioning its development model.
2021–2022: The great energy revolution that was announced
The 2021–2022 budget likely represents the peak of the previous government’s environmental ambitions. It is presented as the foundation of a “new economic architecture” centered on green industries, renewable energy, and sustainable finance.
Announcements are multiplying: acceleration of solar photovoltaics, increased support for decentralized electricity production, promotion of electric vehicles, green financing mechanisms and climate resilience programs.
On paper, Mauritius finally seems ready to embark on the energy transition it has been talking about for over a decade.
The reality is less spectacular. Projects are progressing, but at a slower pace than expected. The electricity grid is struggling to evolve as quickly as necessary, fossil fuels retain a dominant position, and energy targets continue to be regularly postponed.
That year, Mauritius officially declared war on fossil fuels while continuing to import them to run most of its economy.
The energy transition thus becomes a bit like the horizon: the closer we get to it, the further away it seems to get.
2022–2023: The war in Ukraine serves as a stark reminder of the realities
The invasion of Ukraine and soaring oil prices are a stark reminder of the country’s energy vulnerability. After years of talk about energy independence and resilience, Mauritius is discovering that it remains heavily dependent on international markets.
The budget then emphasizes energy security, renewable energy, electric vehicles and food security.
But this crisis primarily reveals how little progress has been made so far. Despite repeated promises, the country remains exposed to the same risks as before: energy dependence, food dependence, and vulnerability to external shocks.
The irony is hard to ignore. After dedicating years to talking about resilience, Mauritius realizes that its resilience remains largely theoretical. The rhetoric was ready; the infrastructure, much less so.
2023–2024: The era of trees, carbon, and the blue economy
The 2023–2024 budget continues the green offensive with new announcements: 86 MW of additional solar energy, carbon market, coastal rehabilitation, planting of one million trees and promotion of the blue economy.
These initiatives demonstrate a genuine desire to strengthen the country’s environmental image. However, they often remain fragmented and struggle to fit into a coherent vision for transformation.
While a million trees are being announced, natural ecosystems continue to suffer the pressures of urbanization, concrete development, and coastal expansion. While carbon credits are being discussed, lagoons continue to receive land-based pollution. While the blue economy is being celebrated, the effective protection of marine areas remains among the weakest in the region, considering the vastness of Mauritius’ Exclusive Economic Zone.
Environmental communication is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Ecological indicators, however, remain far less enthusiastic.
Despite the abundance of announcements, several shortcomings persist: the absence of a fully operational integrated climate adaptation strategy, and still fragmented governance…
2024–2025: The peak of fiscal sustainability
With elections approaching, the 2024–2025 budget arguably presents the most comprehensive set of environmental measures of the period.
Climate fund, climate tax on companies, investments in renewable energies, resilient agriculture, restoration of coral reefs, flood control, waste management: sustainability is now omnipresent.
The problem is no longer the lack of initiatives but their ability to truly transform the country.
Despite the abundance of announcements, several shortcomings persist: lack of a fully operational integrated climate adaptation strategy, still fragmented governance, weak marine protection, persistent energy dependence and difficulties in achieving national renewable energy production targets.
The country is becoming extremely efficient in creating funds, financial mechanisms, and climate strategies. However, the transformation of the territory is progressing more slowly.
2025–2026: A new GM: lots of talk, but still little in the results
The arrival of the new government raised hopes for a change of course in managing environmental issues. The 2025–2026 Budget does indeed give greater prominence to the ecological transition, with announcements concerning the development of solar and biomass energy, the creation of a Climate Finance Unit, the restoration of coastal areas, the implementation of a deposit system for plastic bottles, and several initiatives related to the circular and blue economies. The tone appears more coherent and the vision more structured than in the past, reflecting better integration of climate issues into public policy. However, behind this stated commitment, the government finds itself confronted with problems that have accumulated over decades: heavy energy dependence on fossil fuels, progressive degradation of lagoons, coastal erosion, persistent shortcomings in wastewater treatment, low levels of marine protection, and the absence of genuine land-use planning reform. As for the blue economy, presented as the new engine of growth, it continues to raise a fundamental question: how can a country with more than 2.3 million km² of maritime space still depend largely on imports to satisfy its consumption of seafood?
The Permanent Green Budget: The Art of Reinventing Promises
Beyond the announcements, the real challenge of the 2026–2026 Budget now lies in its ability to break with a recurring practice: multiplying strategies without sustainably transforming environmental indicators. For over a decade, Mauritius has accumulated action plans, roadmaps, climate finance mechanisms, international conferences, and ambitious commitments, without the progress observed always living up to the promises made. The risk, therefore, is that a form of “permanent transition” will perpetuate itself, where solutions are constantly announced but rarely implemented to their full potential. The situation is all the more paradoxical given that the challenges are perfectly identified and the solutions widely known. In reality, the question is no longer what to do, but rather demonstrating the political will and institutional capacity necessary to act at the required scale. Without tangible results, the ecological transition could end up resembling a project that is constantly postponed: always in preparation, always a priority in rhetoric, but perpetually awaited on the ground.
Sustainable transition or the sustainability of the transition?
An examination of Mauritian budgets between 2019 and 2025 reveals a striking paradox. Never before has the environment occupied such a prominent place in national political discourse. Never before have the concepts of resilience, energy transition, circular economy, blue economy, or carbon neutrality been so frequently invoked.
And yet, the fundamental challenges remain remarkably constant.
Fossil fuels continue to dominate energy production. Lagoons remain under pressure. Coral reefs continue their decline. Wastewater treatment is progressing slowly. Marine protection remains marginal given the vastness of Mauritius’ Exclusive Economic Zone. Coastal ecosystems continue to shrink in the face of development.
In reality, Mauritius has not lacked strategies, master plans, roadmaps, or international conferences. Nor has it lacked green budgets, climate funds, or ambitious announcements. What has often been lacking is institutional capacity, political will, and sometimes the courage to question certain deeply entrenched economic models.
After seven years of environmental promises under two different political regimes, one conclusion is inescapable: Mauritius has undeniably succeeded in its transition to the language of sustainability. The transition to a truly sustainable economy, however, remains a work in progress, a negotiation with reality.
source : defimedia
