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France is investing in green industries !

Just before the 6th edition of the Choose France Summit, the French President revealed his ambition to make France a European leader in the green industry. With €23 billion in investments planned up to 2030, this plan aims to achieve two objectives: to become a leader in “green” technologies and to decarbonise existing industries.

France is reindustrialising!

Since 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron has led an initiative-taking policy to reindustrialise the country and to invest in future industries. Results are visible thanks to law PACTE and investment plans such as France Relance and now France 2030, a €54 billion investment plan in 10 strategic sectors. Since 2017 the balance of new factories has been positive with 300 factories opened. This has led to the creation of 90,000 industrial jobs throughout the country.

€23 billion to invest in a greener industry

The French government aims to accelerate further France’s reindustrialisation and to favour a greener industry. To achieve the environmental transition, it is necessary to create new green industries while decarbonising the existing industries. In addition, the government’s ambition is to increase industry share from 10% to 15% of French GDP.

To achieve it, a new plan with 15 measures has been unveiled to facilitate greener investments, finance them, and train talents in the key sectors of tomorrow. By 2030, €23 billion investments will be made in the green industry, creating 40,000 direct jobs. This plan also aims to reduce France’s carbon footprint by 41 million tons of CO2 by 2030.

Facilitate the establisment of green industries

The establishment of new industrial sites will be facilitated thanks to different measures. Administrative measures will be simplified and accelerated. As a benefit, the time required to set up a new factory will be divided by 2 from 17 to 9 months.

Furthermore, France will continue to invest in ready-to-use sites. Located in competitive ecosystems, these sites offer shortened, predictable and controlled set-up times. Thanks to administrative procedures related to urban planning and the environment wich are already completed. €1 billion will be invested in 50 new sites already identified. France currently counts 94 ready-to-use sites that can be found here.

Go further in financing the development of green industries

To accelerate the development of new green industries and the decarbonisation of existing industries, a new “green tax credit” will be created by the French government. Estimated at €500 million per year, it could represent up to 45% of investments made in 4 strategic green sectors: batteries, wind power, solar photovoltaic, and heat pumps.

To go further in financing green industries, this plan will include subsidies coming from Bpifrance. €2.3 billion will be made available in the form of direct loans or financing guarantees for the environmental transition of companies. Finally, private savings will be mobilised for a total of 5 billion per year.

France is a breeding ground for qualified talents

Choosing France to set up a business means gaining access to a large pool of qualified talents. France is renowned for the quality of its workforce, particularly in science and technology, with over 1.2 million engineers (IESF 2021 survey). The country is already recognised internationally for the quality of its education, with universities making it to the top of international rankings. Four French universities reached the top 100 of the Shanghai ranking in 2022, with the University Paris-Saclay ranked 1st in mathematics.

France is also looking to the future and investing in training future generations in the technologies of tomorrow. €700 million will be dedicated to training in the digital transition. Reinforce the attractivity of the industry sector will also be emphasised, and universities will be able to train more talents in the strategic fields of the green industry.

Nordic companies are already investing in green industries in France

In fact, Nordic companies are already involved in numerous green industries and highly value the environmental transition. In 2022, some of the Nordic investments already matched this new plan’s objective. For instance, the Danish company specialising in renewable gases, Nature Energy, decided to establish its first production unit in France. Leader in plastic packaging solutions, the Swedish group Trioworld, invested €15 million in 2 new recycling lines in its production site in Angers. With this plan to develop green industries in France, business opportunities are numerous for Nordic companies.

6th edition of the Choose France Summit