Emmanuel Macron presented his “France 2030” plan at the Elysee Palace, a major investment plan in industry to boost French competitiveness against the United States or China. It intends to rely on key sectors such as nuclear or aeronautics, while initiating the ecological transition. The President of the Republic reiterated the need for “breakthrough innovations” around three major axes: “Better production, better living, better understanding of the world. Here are the 10 major goals he has set:
Develop small-scale nuclear reactors
A billion euros by 2030 must be invested in the development of small nuclear reactors, in particular small modular reactors, called SMRs (“small modular reactors”), are “much more modular and much safer”, he said. he assured, specifying that “always improving safety while reducing costs” remained a priority. These reactors can be mass produced and transported to the place of production, which contrasts with the difficulties of building new generation EPR nuclear reactors such as Flamanville. The issue of waste management was also addressed.
To be a leader in the production of green hydrogen
And France has an asset: nuclear power! While waiting for the construction of “two gigafactories or electrolysers”, nuclear electricity must be used to produce this hydrogen, rather than importing it or creating it with fossil fuels. 500 million euros will also be allocated to non-renewable energies, such as wind power or hydraulics. This investment in energy and hydrogen must serve the following objective: to decarbonize industry.
Reduce CO2 emissions in the industrial sector by 35% compared to 2015
It is a commitment that goes in the direction of the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050. It is necessary “to invest massively to help decarbonize” the industry, said the Head of State, citing the sectors of steel, cement and chemical production, the basis of the industrial fabric and which need green hydrogen to replace fossil fuels, as well as “supplying trucks, buses, trains and planes”. He underlines that if the objective is to reduce emissions by 35% compared to 2015, “today we have only done 4%”.
Produce 2 million electric and hybrid vehicles
This is to convert the current fleet. But also to relocate production, so as “not to become a nation that drives the greenest with cars produced elsewhere”. The Head of State has particularly targeted the large automobile groups, responsible for relocation and who must “play the game”.
Produce the first low-carbon aircraft
“We are also going to invest massively to make it possible to deploy by 2030 the first low-carbon aircraft which must be a French project, but whose objective is to Europeanize it to the maximum”, also announced the President of the Republic. 4 billion euros are announced to develop “the transport of the future”.
Invest in healthy, sustainable and traceable food
No big announcement here, except the desire to accelerate “the transformation that we are leading and where France is a leader”. According to Emmanuel Macron, this is “the sector most at the confluence of all problems, namely feeding more people by ensuring biodiversity and decarbonizing production. He wants to improve quality, competitiveness and lower the weight of CO2 in agricultural production. “If we only deal with one term, we won’t solve the problem,” he added.
Better care
The president repeated most of the announcements of the Health Innovation 2030 plan, to move towards more predictive, more preventive and more innovative medicine. It also set the goal of having 20 bio drugs against cancer and chronic diseases, in particular by 2030.
Preserving the French cultural exception
The Head of State wishes to live in “a world where the stories that we imagine are our own, inscribed in our history, our codes. Video games and series forge our access to information, our representations. If our youth only have a choice between content produced by foreign powers, we change the world. He therefore points to the need to preserve the French cultural exception and to invest in order to be competitive. “Several territories have been identified, we lack technicians, screenwriters, etc. »Investments in large schools were mentioned.
Take part in the new space adventure
Emmanuel Macron wishes to be inspired by the Space X model to meet the new challenges of space. The only innovation set as a target is the reusable mini-launcher, by 2026.
Explore the seabed
Without speaking of exploitation, the deep seabed represents “a lever for understanding living things, perhaps access to rare metals, possibilities of innovation for health, or via biomimicry”. The head of state says he assumes this investment in research.