The French Government shields its path to net zero again, this time with the use of water. This has been confirmed by the country led by Emmanuel Macron, which has presented a list of 12 factories, within the 50 industrial establishments, which it plans to help to reduce their water consumption and thus meet the objective of cutting 10% across the industry between now and 2030.
The ministers for Energy Transition, Christophe Béchu, and for Industry, Roland Lescure, accompanied by the Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Sarah El Haïry, traveled to the Kem One chemical plant in the town of Balan, in the department of Ain ( este), which makes PVC and boasts of having decreased water consumption by 30% from 2006 to 2022.
In a statement, the Government highlighted that this year this factory will reduce the use of water by 20% compared to 2019 in constant production and expects to achieve an additional 75% on the horizon of 2030, thanks to the loop recycling of calls ” mother liquors” used as solvents in the transformation of PVC. The chemical company is also going to study the possibility of replacing its supply in the groundwater tables with another from the Rhône River and the reuse of its water for irrigation in the surrounding area.
Among the 12 installations announced today are three from the ArcelorMittal steel group (those in Dunkerque, Florange and Fos-sur-Mer/Saint Chély d’Apcher), the refinery of the oil giant TotalEnergies in Donges, the Constellium aluminum factory in Alsace or the Saint Gobain foundry in Foug, in Lorraine.
The French government plans to meet in the autumn with the leaders of the 50 industrial complexes identified, as well as with the representatives of the different sectors to present a sobriety plan. The industry represents 8% of the uses of water in France and since 2018 the volumes used have fallen by 17% thanks to the adaptation of production tools.
