Barely returned from Sharm el-Sheikh, in Egypt, where the COP27 is being held, another environmental file awaits Emmanuel Macron. The Head of State brings together, this Tuesday, the leaders of the fifty French sites with the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The objective: to encourage these companies to accelerate their decarbonization.
And for good reason, industry represents 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in France. “The challenge is to manage to convince the leaders of these major sites to embark on massive investment plans,” said the Elysée before this meeting.
Double greenhouse gas reductions
On their own, these fifty sites represent half of industry emissions and 10% of the total for France, the equivalent of “CO2 emissions of 4 million French people”, we observe at the Elysée. The good news is that the number of sites concerned is relatively limited. “It offers a perspective on the ability we have to decarbonize them”, we plead on the side of the presidency.
Especially since these emissions focus on a few well-identified sectors, such as metallurgy, cement, chemicals. Among the fifty sites, there are big names in French industry: ArcelorMittal, TotalEnergies, Calcia, Lafarge, Saint-Gobain and Air Liquide.
If France has already succeeded in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 10% in five years – between 2017 and 2022 -, the executive wants to accelerate and “double the rate of reduction in the five-year period which comes”, hammered the presidency. Because between the conclusions of the IPCC report and the acceleration of the impacts of climate change in recent months, there is urgency.
“Offering an industrial future”
To encourage these sites to start a decarbonization process, Emmanuel Macron should make a number of announcements. Among the subjects which should be discussed, there will be that of the financial support of the State, suggested the Elysée, without giving more details.
Beyond the fight against global warming, decarbonization is a key issue for global competition. “We are in a globalized world with extremely aggressive approaches from other countries which put industrialists in a certain form of tension”, explained a presidential adviser, noting the means deployed by China and the United States to attract manufacturers who want to decarbonize.
“We must ensure that investments are made on our industrial sites in France, it is critical both for employment and the sovereignty” of the States, he added, otherwise the sites will be ” eventually condemned”. “What we are looking for above all is both to decarbonize the sites and also to offer them an industrial future”, underlined the Elysée, noting that they represented 30,000 jobs and saying to seek “to convince their leaders to embark on massive investments”, which can reach billions of euros.