the minister wishes to show that the industry remains focused on decarbonization

The attachment of the Energy sector to the Ministry of the Economy worries climate defenders. The aim of this trip on Monday to the nuclear and industrial sites of Gravelines and Dunkirk, the minister’s first with this expanded portfolio, is to show that it is possible to industrialize while preserving the planet.

Bruno Le Maire is traveling to the North on Monday January 15 to the nuclear and industrial sites of Gravelines and Dunkirk. The Minister of the Economy and therefore, now of Energy, wants to show that the industry is indeed geared towards decarbonization. This is a response to climate advocates who worry that the Ministry of the Economy is now dealing with energy. Bruno Le Maire, as he wished, recovered Agnès Panier-Runacher’s portfolio.

This first trip with this cap, to the Gravelines nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, but also to ArcelorMittal, one of the most polluting sites in France, intends
show that we can economically “rearm” France, to use the words of Emmanuel Macron, while preserving the climate that we can, at the same time, industrialize while preserving the planet. The government’s idea is even to say: we are going to decarbonize because, precisely, we are reindustrializing, by building new nuclear reactors, by investing in cleaner industries. ArcelorMittal will thus announce 1.8 billion euros on Monday to replace one of its blast furnaces with an electric furnace which will make it possible to produce “green” steel. “Green” because produced using electricity.

Make France the first carbon-free nation in Europe

With an expanded portfolio, Bruno Le Maire has big ambitions. Reduce fossil fuels, which today still represent 60% of our consumption, and instead develop wind power, hydraulic power, the French nuclear sector on which the government wants to put all the effort with EDF. The overall objective is to make France, within 15 years, the first low-carbon nation in Europe! The only way, according to Bruno Le Maire, to strengthen our energy sovereignty and differentiate ourselves from our competitors.

Concretely, it is very ambitious because, already, our competitors are powerful. Certainly, France succeeded in convincing ArcelorMittal not to set up in the United States. But it came close and the Americans are putting billions on the table to attract businesses. And then, the ecological transition requires colossal investments. However, with a debt of 3000 billion euros, France does not have the means. Hence this call for savings from the French, there is always the idea of ​​directing part of the Livret A funds towards the nuclear sector, but also appealing to foreign investors, that is to say attracting capital and private companies.

In Davos, the economic summit which opens Monday in Switzerland, and where Emmanuel Macron will go on Wednesday, the Head of State intends to roll out the red carpet to foreign companies, to encourage them to choose France.