OPEN OPINION COLUMN | "REINVENT FRENCH INDUSTRY WITH A SUSTAINABLE, LOW-CARBON MODEL, INDEPENDANT OF FLUCTUATIONS IN ENERGY COSTS: THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM VISION".

	Christophe Debard, President of ALLICE	Eliéta Carlu Director of ALLICE

The French President recently hold a meeting with the 50 most energy-intensive manufacturers and adopted a series of measures to support industry. These measures are essential to help manufacturers to cope with the current environmental, economic, and geopolitical situation.

At the same time, we need to intensify and accelerate our long-term efforts to deeply transform the French industrial model, so that it becomes sustainable, carbon-free and independent of fluctuations in energy costs.

TURN ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND DECARBONISATION INTO OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE RE-INDUSTRIALISATION OF FRANCE

French industry is a main driver of our economic development. It currently employs 4.1 million people and creates significant added value in our country, within our SMBs and ISEs, but also in industrial groups. To ensure that it remains competitive, stays a source of sustainable employment, and is viable for the environment in the long term, we need to rethink its model and commit ourselves more than ever to energy efficiency and decarbonisation. To achieve this, solutions are plentiful in France. We estimate that more than 200 families of high-performance solutions have been developed in France, at various levels of maturity, to decarbonise industry. The outlooks are considerable, and there are many opportunities to be seized.

We are absolutely convinced that industry must take this opportunity: if we succeed in massively developing French and European low carbon solutions, and deploying them on our industrial sites to help them reduce their emissions and consumption, we will be able to become more competitive, and we will win our bet to reindustrialise France in the long term.

ENCOURAGE COLLECTIVE REFLECTION ON THE LEVERS FOR DECARBONISATION AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

In this favourable context, we believe strongly in the sharing of knowledge between manufacturers supported by a collective dynamic. This pooling of knowledge and cross-sector feedback is a key factor for accelerating innovation in the field of decarbonisation. For instance, we have been able to demonstrate that the use of heat pumps in food processing opens up interesting forecasts for other sectors such as chemicals. In addition, heat recovery technologies are useful for both surface treatment and materials manufacturers. We also note that some of our members are working together to combine their technologies in order to produce a single high-performance solution.

Some of these decarbonisation solutions are already available, while others are in the process of being developed with a view to 2030. In all cases, their impact will be increased tenfold by breaking down silos and gathering a wide range of stakeholders and sectors around the table.

ACTIVATE SEVERAL TRANSFORMATION LEVERS TO REDUCE THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND CARBON FOOTPRINT OF MANUFACTURERS

There is an urgent need to start thinking now about the levers that can be activated in the future and that will find a lasting place in our industrial system. Rather than suffer, manufacturers must learn to do better with less: the technical and economic studies we are conducting show that solutions do exist; low-carbon energies can be used, and production processes can be rethought and optimised.

We have identified several transformation levers that can be activated by manufacturers. In a context where sobriety is the watchword, the first one, which can be activated quickly, is energy efficiency from the heart of industrial processes to the factory in its entirety. Next come the integration of alternative energies, and 'circularity' in terms of eco-design, material efficiency and carbon recovery.

In this context, our work focuses on characterising the potential of solutions within the various industrial processes and sectors. Our studies on waste heat have highlighted more than 50 actions that could lead to the widespread deployment of these projects. We have also characterised the electrification potential of 3 major families of thermal processes: cooking, drying and distillation. Of course, other levers for action exist around the digitalisation of industry, the use of low-carbon gases and alternative energies.

We are working daily to achieve our mission: to give manufacturers the keys they need to get involved in the search for solutions to reduce their energy bills and CO2 emissions, by bringing together all the players in the sector.

Elements of this opinion column are included in the 2023 editorial of our director "2023-2025: Invent together a sustainable, low-carbon model for French industry".