The French Cour des Comptes (Court of Auditors) has analysed the industry decarbonisation subsidiaries proposed by the 2020 economic recovery plan and France 2030, the strategic investment plan adopted in 2021. The report presents the consistency of these subsidiaries with other public interventions. It assesses the relevance of targeting supported companies with regard to decarbonisation objectives and competitiveness issues. And it gives an initial overview of the effects of these subsidiaries on the beneficiary companies. Finally, several specific recommendations are put forward.

Decarbonising industry involves many tools and approaches, including sobriety, electrification, biomass, hydrogen and carbon storage. It is a key driver in ensuring climate neutrality commitments are met by 2050 and improving competitiveness in a context of trade tensions.

Subsidiaries to support decarbonising industry were significantly increased between 2020 and 2024 as part of the recovery plan and France 2030. In its report, the Cour des Comptes examined those aimed at supporting investment for the deployment of decarbonisation technologies at industrial sites, representing a total envelope of €3.4 billion distributed between the schemes operated by Ademe⁽¹⁾ and the single point of service for industry decarbonisation managed by the Payment Services Agency (ASP).

Industry emissions in France

In 2024, the manufacturing industry is the third sector* that emits the most in France (58.7 MtCO_2e, accounting for 15.9% of total emissions). Its emissions are mainly caused by the non-metallic minerals and building materials, chemicals, metal-working and agri-food sectors (four of which account for 88.6% of industry emissions). They are concentrated in a limited number of large sites (the 50 emitting sites that emit the most accounted for 58% of the total in 2022). Although the industry has significantly reduced its emissions and their intensity since 1990, a sustained effort to reduce them is required to achieve the targets set in the SNBC, just as high investments are necessary to transform production processes and deploy decarbonisation technologies whose maturity levels and deployment prospects are still irregular.

*Behind transport and building

Enhance the convergence of support systems

To begin with, the preferred tool to encourage decarbonisation is carbon pricing. But this has operational limitations, hence the implementation of complementary public subsidiaries. In fact, the subsidiaries from the recovery plan and France 2030 represented a significant increase in the resources dedicated to decarbonising industry. But they are part of a complex and fragmented landscape, marked by numerous schemes, both at European, national and regional level, the articulation of which remains limited.

Improved targeting but not all the way

Before 2020, subsidiaries (including from the Heat Fund) benefited establishments representing a very limited share of total emissions. From 2020 onwards, the economic recovery plan and France 2030 measures have made it possible to reach sectors and institutions that emit more than others on average. However, among the famous “50 sites” with the highest emissions (which are actually 56), only around twenty received subsidiaries over the 2020-2024 period, while the initial logic of the targeting was to work towards rapid decarbonisation of the establishments that emit the most.

The main effects of subsidiaries on beneficiary companies

Even without a broad perspective (some aids are still being finalized), the assessment shows that decarbonisation subsidiaries have had a positive effect on the amount of investments made by companies that are already committed to this approach. On the other hand, they do not increase the likelihood of new companies initiating a decarbonisation project.

In addition, if no positive effects have been observed on employment and production levels, favourable effects have been perceived on innovation and productivity, as shown by the increase in the number of patents filed by supported companies and the improvement in their net margin indicators.

The Court’s recommendations

The authors of the report conclude that subsidiaries to decarbonise industry from the economic recovery plan and France 2030 have enabled investment acceleration and as such response to the climate emergency. But they stress that in order to prepare for the transition to carbon neutrality in 2050, beyond the 2030 stage, it is necessary to implement an overall and long-term policy that includes all actors, the sites that emit the most and the entire industry.

In general, the Court recommends establishing a provisional trajectory for subsidiaries for decarbonising industry from 2026, in line with the multiannual programming of public finances. And it recommends that companies’ cohorts be monitored in order to measure the medium- and long-term effects of the measures.

1) Decarb Ind, Decarb Ind+, Indusee, Decarb Flash and BCIAT measures

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