Earlier this month France released its national carbon capture strategy, confirming that the technology will play a role in the country’s decarbonization efforts.
Following a year of consultation, the document outlines the industries carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) will be used in, the interplay with EU-wide policies, as well as specific targets between 2030 and 2050.
Perhaps the most strategic aspects of the document is that it provides a framework for the laws and regulations France will put in place, so that investors, emitters and all other stakeholders have a degree of certainty and predictability to plan mid and long-term projects that are capital and resource intensive.
One of the key components of this will be carbon contract for difference which are designed to support stakeholders and help the commit to contracts with durations of 15 years.
Europe’s other major economic engine Germany received approval from the European Commission in February 2024 for a $4.3 billion (€4 billion) package to fund a carbon pricing mechanism that will allow heavy industry in Germany to decarbonize.
France places hubs at the core of its carbon capture strategy
The strategy focuses on unavoidable emissions and sets specific targets for the next decades: 4 to 8 megatons per year before 2030, 12-20 Mtpa by 2040 and with the development of a pan-European infrastructure by 2050, a goal of 30 to 50 Mtpa.
The strategy also speaks about the creation of several hubs which overlap with the industrial centers of the country. These hubs will be the driving forces for the development of transport and storage infrastructure, with the northern industrial areas expected to take advantage of sequestration capacity being developed by countries like Norway, Denmark, while the southern ones will likely look for options currently developed by Italy and Greece.
The country will also pursue the development of its own storage capacity and recently announced a call for interest for capture and storage with industry minister Roland Lescure pledging to streamline permitting processes for installing CCUS equipment in factories. “We need to simplify permits,” he explained. “If a site can extract oil, it should be able to store captured CO2 there.”
The second phase of the initiative is slated to conclude by mid-December, will involve government testing of various capture and storage sites.
Negative emission technologies are also mentioned here and included as contributors for achieving the targets, which also confirms the role of carbon removal in the country’s plans. The French Association for Negative Emissions (AFEN) was launched back in April 2024, signaling the growth potential there.
Relevant: France Launches Call For Interest For Carbon Capture And Storage
EU policies are also widely addressed in the strategy with connections to the Industrial Carbon Management Strategy taken into account, as well as the recently enacted Net Zero Industry Act.
There is an emphasis on using the technology to manage emissions from hard-to-abate industries like steel, aluminum, cement and chemicals, while other like waste management, biomass and paper also considered.
The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is also mentioned, with most of the industries being considered for inclusion in the mechanism which has been largely successful in limiting CO2 from industrial emitters.
