French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that France wants to be a leader in green hydrogen by 2030 and build low-carbon aircraft and small nuclear reactors as part of a 30 billion euro ($35 billion) investment plan. .
Macron said the roadmap, dubbed “France 2030”, would ensure France decarbonizes its industry and brings innovation and production in key areas, from automobiles and biomedicine to semiconductors, closer home by the end of the decade, Reuters reports.
The long-term plan, drawn up six months before the presidential election, was quickly criticized by the opposition as an election campaign, but Macron said those goals were key to ensuring France’s standing in the world.
Referring to a shortage of face masks when the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged, Macron said the crisis exposed real weaknesses and France’s dire need for innovation and industrial production at home.
“We have to rebuild the framework of productive independence for France and Europe,” he said, adding that innovation would be key amid global competition for leadership and access to raw materials. “The winner takes it all,” he added.
Outlining some of the plan’s goals, Macron said France will build by 2030 a low-carbon aircraft and a small modular reactor as well as two huge green hydrogen production plants. It will also produce large numbers of electric cars.
“We must fight the battle of innovation and industrialization at the same time,” Macron said, while outlining the plan to a group of entrepreneurs, adding: “We need a country that produces more.”
Macron said the plan would give a key role to small and brilliant start-ups in building France’s industrial future alongside well-established giants.
Other 2030 goals include investing in semiconductors and promoting innovation in the French health sector, including biomedicine.
In addition to 30 billion euros of new public investment, some of which will already be included in the 2022 budget, French public investment bank Bpifrance will invest 4 billion euros in start-ups and innovative companies.
All of this comes on top of the €100 billion recovery plan announced last year to help France cope with the coronavirus pandemic, much of it earmarked for promoting greener energy policies.
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