This is a decade, France undertook to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Starting with that of the industries which must drastically lower their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Transport, energy, construction, factories: largely helped by the State, all the major sectors of the economy have embarked on the battle and the forwarding seems irreversible in our country. A voluntarism that contrasts with what is observed abroad. In the United States, Donald Trump has returned to the White House and leaves the Paris Accords. In China, GHG emissions are getting on the rise. Even the European Union is preparing to lighten your green pactyet adopted in 2019. Suffice to say that the general movement slows down and worried.
The year 2024 ended with a very bad note for those who believe in the greening of our industry. The steel giant ArcelorMittal has decided to delay the vast decarbonization project of its Dunkirk site,, In the North, invoking insufficient demand for steel in Europe. The Franco-Indian group had undertaken to gradually replace by electrical ovens its stove high stoves (coal). An XXL transformation which amounts to 1.8 billion euros. In France, manufacturers generate 17.5 % of greenhouse gas emissions, which makes them the third most polluting sector in the country, behind transport and agriculture. The government has committed, As part of France 2030to invest 5.6 billion euros over this decade in the decarbonation of our factories. He notably signed “transitional contracts” with the 50 most polluting sites, from Dunkirk to Fos-sur-Mer via the Chemistry Valley near Lyon. Objective: to reduce GHG emissions by 45 % by 2030.
The trajectory by 2035 is the right
Undoubtedly, the industry progresses on its carbon footprint, and not only in France. “If we take the sectors subject to the European carbon market, their CO2 emissions fell by 36 % between 2005 and 2021”, notes Nicolas Goldberg, associated with Colombus Consulting. “The trajectory by 2035 is the right one, the state and industrialists to honor their obligations. On the other hand, there are unknown to lift beyond 2035. Certain technologies must in particular go to the scale To become competitive “, adds Vincent Charlet, general delegate of the industry factory. Conflicts of use may also occur. The quantities of decarbon hydrogen and biomass available in 2050, for example, will be lower than the needs announced by industrialists.
There are several ways to decarbonize the industry. The most direct and cheapest is to fight against waste, or in jargon, to improve “the energy efficiency” of the manufacturing processes. But replacing thermal energies with electricity or biomass requires much more effort, with major impacts on the production chain. Especially for certain sectors such as metallurgy or the manufacture of ammonia, for which thermal energies are not only used to heat but are among the “ingredients”. Coal constitutes, for example, a oxidoreducer agent in the manufacture of steel. Natural gas is used as a raw material to produce ammonia.
The biggest obstacle: the price of electricity in France
The capture, storage, transport and valuation of carbon (CCUS) will be essential to reduce residual carbon emissions. “These technologies are the subject of pilot projects but are not yet mature, and are very expensive at this stage of their development,” said David Lolo, in charge of studies at the industry factory. In addition, the energy regulation commission, which has published A prospective report On the CCUS last September, warns that “the geological storage potential of carbon dioxide in France is still poorly known on land, and unknown at sea”.
In the immediate future, the greening of industry comes up against a price obstacle, electricity costing more in Europe than in the United States or China. “The glass sector, for example, should replace its gas ovens with electric or hybrid ovens. But the gas remains cheaper than the electron, even when you integrate the price of carbon. Electrification is therefore not A profitable investment for this sector “, illustrates Vincent Charlet. Likewise, the production of renewable hydrogen from electricity is currently done at prohibitive costs. “Green hydrogen returns 7 to 10 euros per kilo, compared to 2 euros for hydrogen produced from hydrocarbons”, informs Olivier Appert, advisor at the Energy and Climate Center of the French Institute of International Relations.
The funding necessary for the decarbonation of the tricolor industry would amount to 48 billion euros by 2050, according to associations Action Climate and France Nature Environnement. A colossal amount to absorb, even though the sector is going through a crisis. According to the PMI index, French manufacturing production has just recorded its strongest contraction since May 2020. Our industrialists must compete with foreign groups which not only have access to cheaper energy, but are also subject to more climatic policies mild.
Companies thus denounce the regulatory “overdose” caused by the European Green Pact. “If we are the only ones to decarbonize our industry, we will question our international competitiveness, even though Europe only represents 6 % Global greenhouse gases “, slips Olivier appet.” The EU is stuck between two empires, China and the United States, engaged in a subsidy war in order to keep their industry and make it a geopolitical lever “, Complete Nicolas Goldberg.
French political uncertainty that does not help
In France, political chaos following the dissolution of June 9 does not help anything to an already uncertain situation. “We have listed few new decarbonation projects in 2024, and none in the second half of it,” notes David Lolo. If industrialists prefer, out of caution, to suspend their projects, the executive wants to drive out suspicions of immobility. At the end of December, the government launched a call for tenders for helping the most polluting sites in France, with a target budget of 3 billion euros and an unstoppable logic: to tackle tons of tons of CO2 cheapest to delete.
Europe will have to harmonize its practices. “We have analyzed the installation of industrial heat pumps on the continent. A real Lépine competition! Each country has its incentives,” describes Nicolas Goldberg. Foreign groups and investors only have to tear their hair.
In his report on the future of the European Union, the former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta insists on the need to thwart inflation Reduction Act, a vast plan to support green industries launched in the United States under Joe Biden. This program has generated billions of dollars in green projects grants, with simplified support mechanisms. “Administrative complexity in Europe means that it can flow up to eighteen months between the filing of a file and its approval,” persifishes a large boss. Industrialists call for more simplification. Hoping, in the long march to decarbonation, survive the shock of the economic war that rages between the two largest world powers.
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