The French National Low Carbon Strategy sets a target for the industry sector to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 35% by 2030, compared to 2015. The chemicals sector accounts for 25% of total emissions of the industrial sector.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition published a Decarbonation Roadmap for the chemicals sector. It highlights the progress made in the sector, its future needs and emissions, and the ways for the sector to reduce its carbon emissions. It sets a new emissions reduction target of 26% by 2030, compared to 2015. The goals highlighted in the roadmap are:
- Enhancing energy efficiency (reducing annual GHG emissions by 1.8 MtCO2 equivalent between 2015 and 2030);
- Nitrous oxide (N2O) reduction (-0.8 MtCO2 eq)
- Lowering emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) (-0.9 MtCO2 eq).
- Generating low-carbon heat (1.4 MtCO2 equivalent for heat from biomass and -0.8 MtCO2 equivalent for heat from Solid Recovered Fuel - SRF).
The plan advocates the use of several measures to guarantee affordable and dependable supply to low-carbon electricity while offering rewards for energy conservation, such as:
- Instruments to facilitate an industry-wide supply of competitive low-carbon energy;
- Extending and protecting the public electricity network's interruptibility and rate-reduction measures;
- Implementing compensation for the ETS scheme's indirect costs between 2021 and 2030; and
- Promoting an energy tax structure that will increase electrification.
