France unveils 55 ‘turnkey’ sites for clean industry

On Tuesday 16 April, the French government unveiled the list of the first 55 new sites it is making to host green industries. 

The scheme, initially presented in May 2023 by President Macron was confirmed with the passing of the Green Industry law in October 2023. The bill aims to grow industrial activity in France by 2030 while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

To achieve this, the government has initially launched the ’50 Turnkey Sites France 2030′ program, which helps manufacturers interested in investing in France to find land more easily.

But on Tuesday (16 April)  Minister for Ecological Transition  Christophe Béchu and Minister for Industry Roland Lescure,  unveiled 55 sites across France – an increased ambition compared to the original target of 50 sites.

Five sites will be available this year, with the rest coming online between 2025 and 2030. 

However the government at this moment has refused to give any details of which industries will be established on these sites.

“We’re not targeting any particular industry. Emergence will depend on the characteristics of the site, the employment basin in which it is located, etc.” Lescure’s office explained.

Project sponsors include 28 local authorities, 11 private companies, and 16 other organisations. 

The decline of industrial manufacturing is a major concern in several European countries, with business leaders calling for a ‘European Industrial Deal’ to complement the bloc’s Green Deal.

Countries are focusing support on new decarbonised industrial activities, which are typically more expensive than traditional activities but can deliver a competitive advantage in the medium term.

“Literally turnkey”

These sites are “literally turnkey”, Lescure insists to journalists. In other words, they will all have undergone a complete site survey (electricity, water, utilities, etc.) to ‘de-risk the site as much as possible for developers.

They can also apply for financial support for their projects, as part of the process. 

To speed up the development of industrial facilities, the environmental administrative authorisation procedure has been simplified from 17 to 9 months, although the process may take longer if there are legal disputes.

Certain projects of ‘major national interest’ mainly the largest plants, will benefit from a dedicated procedure.

To complete all the post-study stages, the government plans to deploy €450 million in capital investments or loans to support installing industrial plants. 

In total, French public bank the ‘Banque des territories’ is expected to invest one billion euros between 2023 and 2027.

These savings-based schemes will be supplemented by tax credits for industries linked to the technologies covered by the EU’s Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA).

The NZIA aims to support European manufacturing of clean technologies such as wind turbines, solar panels, heat pumps, batteries, or nuclear. 

Ecological protection

Béchu was pleased to report that 30 of the 55 are rehabilitated industrial wastelands (in whole or in part). 

The minister stressed the deployment of all these industrial site levels does not collide with another government objective – stopping the net shift in land from natural to human usage by 2050.

This objective is backed by a dedicated “Zero Net Artificialisation” law, which sets an intermediate objective of halving the rate of land consumption between 2021 and 2031. 

In all, the 55 sites deployed are expected to occupy a total of 3,300 hectares of land. The smallest will occupy around three hectares, and the largest 300 – an average of 60 hectares. What’s more, this is only the first wave, according to Lescure’s office.

“This is not the end of the story,” they said, stressing that government departments were continuing to study new site proposals. Further details are expected in the “coming weeks.”

The “Intercommunalité de France” association, which brings together over 1,000 local authority organisations is calling for the scheme to release more sites on an annual basis, to build up a “stock” of turnkey sites.

[Edited by Donagh Cagney/Rajnish Singh]

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