Industrial carbon storage: France will "identify possible landfill sites"

Europe 1 with AFP 16:04 p.m., June 23, 2023

The decarbonization of the 50 French industrial sites that emit the most greenhouse gases (fertilizer, cement, steel, chemicals, etc.) requires identifying "possible landfill sites" of excess CO2, Industry Minister Roland Lescure said Friday. The government launches Friday a "public consultation" on the capture and sequestration of carbon emitted by industrialists, as part of the National Council of Industry (CNI) which is held on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show, says the minister, quoted in Les Échos.

"Carbon highways"

Eventually, it plans to build "carbon highways" to evacuate all this CO2, via an axis of "carbon pipelines" that will be the "infrastructures of the twenty-first century" to liquefaction ports for the maritime transport of CO2 to storage sites, says Roland Lescure. To achieve this, "it will be a question of identifying possible landfill sites, first in empty natural gas deposits in the North Sea, and later why not in France", adds the minister who will launch a "call for projects" at the end of the consultation "so that geologists can identify the best options on our territory".

In total, the decarbonization of the 50 industrial sites that emit the most CO2, announced in November, will require an investment of 50 billion euros, according to the Matignon dossier distributed to the press on the sidelines of the CNI devoted to "ecological planning" and the decarbonization of industry.

This body brings together the bosses and unions of the country's 19 main industrial sectors (aeronautics, agri-food, automotive etc.) as well as representatives of the State and public authorities.

50 sites targeted by the government

Elisabeth Borne is due to announce on Friday the release of the first budgets to finance the investments necessary to be able to continue producing cement, fertilizers or other products while reducing the country's carbon footprint. The government has chosen to focus on the 50 most emitting factories, especially around Dunkirk, Fos-sur-mer, Normandy and the southeast. These 50 sites emit 55% of the country's industrial CO2 and are concentrated in four sectors: steel and metallurgy, materials, non-metallic minerals, chemicals and agri-food.

The main levers of decarbonization are mainly through their electrification to replace fossil fuels, but also through carbon capture (CCS), says Matignon. For example, fertilizer manufacturer Yara, whose ammonia plant is located in Le Havre, has launched electrification work by installing new transformers that will allow it to be connected to the grid. The lime manufacturer Lhoist in northern France is working on a project to capture CO2 at the chimney outlet.