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#France2030: 7 billion euros for hydrogen

Last October, President Emmanuel Macron unveiled the France 2030 plan. In total, €30 billion will be invested to structure France’s strategy and achieve the ecological and digital transitions to carbon neutrality. This plan prioritizes a low-carbon hydrogen sector, integrated into a more extensive European framework in which the Nordics are also involved. €7 billion will be invested in renewable and low carbon hydrogen energy – which €2 billion from the France Relance recovery plan.

Hydrogen: the heart of French and European public investment strategy

France chooses excellence and green hydrogen to reduce gas emissions and strengthen its industrial and technological sectors. So much that, under the France 2030 plan, hydrogen companies can count on public support of €7 billion over five years, including €3.4 billion spent as soon as 2022. By the way, €150 million has already been released in 2021. This public support is in addition to the first investments planned by the France Relance plan and the European recovery plan NextGenerationEU.

Read more: France 2030 – A pro-business agenda making France more resilient and attractive for investors

Strong growth prospects for carbon-free hydrogen in France

France has the same goal as Germany and the Nordics: to reduce its emissions by 81% by 2050 compared to 2015. Hence, to achieve its great ambition, France chooses the innovative solution of hydrogen energy:

With hydrogen, you will have the possibility to ensure our movements, to produce, to have low-carbon energy and therefore, to reconcile the industrial adventure, the economic growth with the decarbonization of our economies and the battle for the climate.

Emmanuel Macron, 16 November 2021, meeting Genvia’s teams in Béziers (Occitanie).

Read more: The French Green Hydrogen Plan 2020-2030

France is already on the way to this goal! Companies, local authorities, and R&D centers have already submitted 160 projects for a total investment of €32.5 billion. For example, the up-and-coming French unicorn Lhyfe has raised €8 million and received €2.7 million in grants in early 2020. The startup wants to become the “first green unicorn to have avoided 1 billion tons of CO2” by producing hydrogen only from renewable energies, CEO Matthieu Guesné.

Nordic companies already trust France

Hydrogen is increasingly used in the Nordics! Companies are already trusting French actors to couple this energy with industrial uses. For example, the Norwegian company Norske Tog has chosen Alstom’s railway expertise by signing a contract worth nearly €2 billion to produce 200 trains. Part of these trains will be the occasion to apply emission-neutral innovations such as hydrogen batteries. In this respect, Sweden has already trusted French technology since 2021: Alstom’s hydrogen trains made their Swedish debut in Östersund in August 2021!

Read more: French Presidency of the Council of the European Union to reinforce industrial cooperation

New calls for proposals will continue in 2022, especially under the Decarbonised Hydrogen Production Support Mechanism to support the deployment of large-scale electrolysis and hydrogen projects.

Contact us for more information on the French hydrogen strategy or support your investment project in France.

Article written by Samy Trabelsi

Photo : © Élysée