Goal: decarbonizing the industry

1- What is decarbonization ?

The principle of decarbonization of industry consists of reducing and/or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, on a national scale, generated by various industrial activities. It focuses on 3 main levers:

• Improving the energy efficiency of industries;
• Transitioning to renewable energy  sources;
• Enabling CO2 storage.

Faced with the climate emergency we are facing and the need to develop sustainable solutions, decarbonization has become a fundamental topic in the industrial sector today.

Indeed, in France, the industrial sector accounts for 1/5th of our greenhouse gas emissions and more than 90% of the GHG emissions of this sector corresponds to carbon (CO2) emissions.

As the crucial need for decarbonization has become one of France’s main objectives, it is important to act quickly. But then, what are the solutions available in order to achieve this objective?

2 – What concrete actions for decarbonization ?

Concrete goals

In 2015, France published the “National Low Carbon Strategy (SNBC)” offering guidelines for implementing the transition to a low-carbon, circular and sustainable economy. The objective of this strategy is to achieve a reduction of:

• 35% of emissions of all types of GHGs by 2030;
• 81% of emissions of all types of GHGs by 2050.

The vision of this strategy would be to achieve net zero CO2 emissions  by 2050.

Concrete actions

To achieve its zero-carbon objective, France has set up a France 2030 investment plan. The aim of this plan is to sustainably transform key sectors of the economy such as energy, hydrogen, etc. by investing in technological innovation and industrialization projects.

Support mechanisms for the decarbonisation of industry have been put in place to accelerate the energy transition and reduce GHG emissions. France has established a budget of more than €5bn with the aim of deploying decarbonization solutions in industrial sites in order to meet  global ecological challenges.

€610 million has been deployed to support innovation and the development of new technologies in order to:

• Promote the decarbonization of industries;
• Maximise French industrial benefits on the decarbonisation market.

But then, where do we find these means of support for companies?

As part of France 2030, numerous calls for projects developed by State actors have been launched; the objective is to encourage and support companies in the development of innovative solutions in order to meet the challenges of the #décarbonation.

We present some of the entities setting up project financing:

• FrenchTech, a movement for the collective mobilization of France’s territorial ecosystems for the growth of startups and digital companies, their mission is to make France a very attractive country for startups wishing to develop internationally. Various business support programs are set up by FrenchTech. Following their application to the FrenchTech programs, companies are evaluated first on their potential for impact and growth and then a second time on their deployment and governance capacity. 

• ADEME, an organization supporting companies, local authorities, etc. in order to accelerate the reduction of energy consumption, develop renewable energies and reduce GHG emissions, the main objective of this organization is to support companies in order to succeed in the ecological transition. The project selection process by ADEME is relatively rigorous, companies must submit a complete application that will be evaluated by experts on various criteria such as energy efficiency, environmental performance, etc. The projects are then classified and the project leaders are informed of the results individually.

•  BPI France, a French public investment bank, whose mission is the financing and development of companies. Climate issues have become the BPI’s priority, and many calls for projects aimed at decarbonizing and ensuring the ecological transition are set up annually. In the same way as for the PAAs set up by ADEME, companies are required to submit a complete application to respond to the BPI France PPAs. The applications are then evaluated by experts and an amount of aid is allocated to the most innovative and realistic projects.

• We will also find funding programs set up by regional entities such as the Occitanie Region or Nouvelle Aquitaine, very often in collaboration with the entities seen above. The selection of projects is also done by submitting applications, which must contain a lot of information such as the impact of the project, the budget, the level of risk, the team’s capabilities or the degree of innovation. It is again by experts from different organizations that the projects are evaluated and selected.

• Larger-scale entities also exist; the European Commission, for example, regularly sets up aid programmes to support innovative impact projects. Depending on the type of integrated program, the selection process may be more or less rigorous. As with many programs, a file is required and must sometimes be accompanied by presentations and/or videos to explain the project in detail. Selection processes are often carried out in several stages and the elements requested by the European Innovation Council (EIC) are increasingly precise depending on the selection stage.

3- And Water Horizon ?

WaterHorizon offers a solution for distributing  renewable heat and cold to a remote consumer from waste heat, waste heat from a process or product that is not used by the latter and rejected by industries. Thanks to the circular operation of our solution, Water Horizon allows large consumers of thermal energy to do without heating and cooling solutions using carbon-based sources and environmentally harmful refrigerants; we will thus bring sobriety and ecology to the colossal industrial cooling market.

Thus, the Water Horizon project is perfectly in the field of innovation for sustainable development and the circular economy.

The main obstacle to the massive use of waste heat as a source of thermal energy is the proximity of  the producer and the consumer. Thanks to its innovative mobile technology solution  , WH is changing this paradigm by transporting this energy to another point where either heat or cold (down to -10°C) can be consumed as needed.

The heating and cooling markets are increasingly looking for renewable solutions. In Europe, renewable energy sources account for only 23% of thermal consumption. WaterHorizon is therefore the right time to meet the growing demand for  heat, but also for renewable cold, which is becoming a priority with climate change.

Our ambition is to become a major player in decarbonization to offer everyone a better and greener future of industry.