When Emmanuel Macron received the leaders of the fifty industrial sites emitting the most CO2 in France, on November 8, 2022 at the Elysée, the Minister of Industry, Roland Lescure, warned the participants: “No question of this turning into a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, you are not shameful companies in the dock, but proud to act for your decarbonization. » A year later, the same people will meet to sign, Thursday, November 22 at the Salon des Mayors, in Paris, their “ecological transition contract” with the State, which details their carbon-free roadmap. The same, but without Emmanuel Macron, the international agenda of the President of the Republic and the G20 summit forcing him to cancel his presence. But always with the pro-business mindset of the executive, which is counting on the cooperation of major players in the economy to achieve carbon neutrality in France by 2050.
It is therefore Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Energy Transition, and Roland Lescure who will seal the agreements with the industrial sites responsible alone for 60% of the greenhouse gas emissions of the entire French industrial sector, and the four highest-emitting sectors (chemistry, metallurgy, materials and construction and agri-food), representing 80% of national emissions. ArcelorMittal, TotalEnergies, Saint-Gobain, Lafarge, Solvay and Cristal Union are among the large groups that appear on this list.
Through these contracts, these manufacturers undertake to “reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 45% in 2030”, according to the Ministry of Industry. How ? By activating four main levers of decarbonization: the electrification of processes (in particular to replace ovens or engines running on gas), the deployment of biomass (as a substitute fuel or as a fuel in biochemistry), the use of hydrogen “green” (in particular for the manufacture of steel and mineral fertilizers), carbon capture and storage. “The signing of these transition contracts is a new decisive step, it marks the beginning of the path for low-carbon French industry”we welcome at the Ministry of Energy Transition.
No binding nature
The solutions for decarbonizing are above all technological, without necessarily reviewing the production levels of the different industrial sites. However, several of these technologies are still in the development phase, such as carbon capture and storage, a costly and energy-intensive process which, for the moment, cannot be deployed quickly on a large scale. The government nevertheless judges ” necessary “ to develop a national strategy for “carbon capture, use and storage”. In this sense, an agreement must be signed with Denmark, in December, and with Norway, in February, to allow the transport of CO2 towards storage capacities currently being developed in these two countries.
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