2024-06-12 06:30:12
Making Dunkirk an international showcase for decarbonization on a territorial scale. This is now the ambition of the “DKarbonation” program, supported by the public interest group (GIP) Euraénergie, which brings together all the players in the economic development of the industrial-port basin of Dunkirk, in the North.
Already a winner in 2023 of the very first call for projects “Low Carbon Industrial Zones” (ZIBaC), the project recently climbed another level, by joining the first global “zero net emissions” industrial group launched by the World Economic Forum, as announced by its promoters at the beginning of the year.
To date, twenty industrial territories spread across four continents have joined the World Economic Forum initiative. Among them is Dunkirk, only French representativefor the time being, within this international grouping. While the Dunkirk industrial basin and its hinterland currently emit no less than 16 million tonnes of CO₂ each year, the region aims to reduce its emissions by 55% by 2030, while at the same time contributing to the creation of 16,000 to 20,000 jobs between 2030 and 2040. Ambitions to which this integration of the northern industrial-port region into the world’s leading “net zero emissions” industrial grouping should contribute significantly, as Rafaël Ponce, Director of Euraénergie, explains to us.
Engineering Techniques: What is the nature and general purpose of Euraénergie, the entity that you lead and which runs the Dkarbonation program? What were the main stages of its creation and development?
Deputy Director General of Economy and Attractiveness (DGAEA) of the Urban Community of Dunkirk, Rafaël Ponce also heads the GIP Euraénergie.
Rafael Ponce : Euraénergie is a public interest group (GIP). It was set up in 2020 at the initiative of Patrice Vergriete, president of the urban community of Dunkirk. This group brings together all the players in the economic development of the territory, and more particularly of the industrial-port basin. It aims to lead and coordinate the transformation of this basin on different levels: that of the energy transition, initially, but also, now, that of the industrial transformation of this territory.
This GIP is the result of Dunkirk’s application to the “Territoire d’Innovation” call for expressions of interest, launched by the State in 2019. This aimed to highlight certain actions around innovation and transformation, including one in particular, that of the transformation of an industrial basin with a view to capturing and recovering the CO₂ emitted within it. In this context, several major CO₂ emitters in the territory initiated an approach in the form of a collective, the CO₂ Collective. At the same time, as a community, we have led a territorial innovation approach, which has included this desire of industrialists to valorize their CO₂. We have thus ended up setting up a global project: Dunkirk creative energy. This is the collective approach to animating and transforming the Dunkirk area. This project thus includes all the actions carried out around decarbonization and everything that results from it, in particular the establishment of infrastructures. We are also concerned with questions of employment, orientation of young people, and even general public information. All this is carried out in concert with industrialists, and led by the structure that I manage: Euraénergie. In particular, on the front of promoting industry to young people, job seekers and people in retraining, we are leading an action aimed at increasing the attractiveness of the sector, and promoting industrial professions, which for many suffer from a form of disenchantment.
This joint strategy, this collaborative public-private work, has already had the effect of maintaining existing industrial activity, but also of attracting new industrial players who are part of this decarbonization logic. This, on a territorial scale, but also on a regional and even national level. This is how we have notably seen the arrival of Electric Battery Gigafactories and the entire associated ecosystem, all of this forming a real industrial whole focused around decarbonization.
What is your vision, and what are your ambitions in terms of decarbonization and industrial transformation?
The idea is not to deny the industrial past of Dunkirk, but to support historical players such as ArcelorMittal, Aluminium Dunkerque and Comilog in greening their activities. To do this, we have built a decarbonization roadmap that aims for carbon neutrality by 2050. Our current trajectory is even ahead of the initial objectives! Dunkirk currently represents 21% of industrial CO₂ emissions in France, with 16 million tonnes per year. We will achieve a 50% reduction by 2030.
This strategy is based on different solutions. The first is the reduction of fossil fuel consumption. This involves in particular the transformation of the existing industrial tool. ArcelorMittal, for example, plans to replace one of its coal-fired blast furnaces with electric furnacesThe objective is also, tomorrow, to produce new energies such as hydrogen to power some of the industrialist’s facilities.
We have also developed a circularity approach within the industrial-port basin: the waste of an industrialist can become a resource for one of his neighbors. This is how certain structuring projects have emerged, which make the area even more attractive. For example, some industrialists produce steam that is now recovered and made available to other players in the area, but also to the community. For more than 20 years now, ArcelorMittal has, for example, made the steam produced by its factory available to the community, which thus supplies an urban heating network. The industrialist has also launched a major project steel recycling.
Added to this is the capture and use of CO₂, or CCU, for carbon capture and utilization. This has led to the emergence of projects for the production of synthetic fuels. In addition to CCU, storage projects – or CCS – have also emerged in the North Sea. Dunkirk has thus decided to position itself as the first French CO₂ hub. This will allow us to avoid releasing the little remaining carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, especially since we have the necessary infrastructure. The LNG terminal will in particular make it possible to liquefy this CO₂ before transporting it for storage in natural reservoirs in the North Sea.
We have also set up a “hydrogen” roadmap. It aims first of all to assess the needs, both in terms of production and consumption, of the future hydrogen sector that will be set up in the Dunkirk region.
Dunkirk is currently the only French representative among the 20 signatory clusters worldwide of the Industrial Clusters in Transition initiative supported by the World Economic Forum. Credit: World Economic Forum
What are the origins of this integration of DKarnonaton into the first global “net zero emissions” industrial group launched by the World Economic Forum?
This is ultimately the result of all the work that has been underway for several years in the region. On the one hand, we are fortunate to host industrialists of international stature, but on the other hand, we also have a large seaport that also shines throughout the world. This is what has allowed us to be identified as one of the most active regions on the subject of decarbonization, but also, and above all, one of the regions with a clearly established strategy, with long-term projects.
The World Economic Forum has therefore allowed us to become a member of this international network. We have thus become the first French entity recognised at the global level. This will allow us to continue implementing our strategy of partnerships, collaboration, synergies, etc. and to strengthen our exchanges around the approaches adopted by each party, in order to learn from them. This also represents for us a new mark of attractiveness of the territory, after, in particular, our designationin 2023, as first winners, with FOS on seafrom the “Low Carbon Industrial Zones” call for projects (AAP ZIBaC), which essentially leads us to work on setting up the infrastructure necessary for the decarbonization of the territory.
Overall, all of this will allow us to involve the entire secondary industrial fabric, beyond just the large groups. Our objective is indeed to truly bring on board all the players in the industry that emit CO₂. Small industrialists who would probably not have the means to carry out projects alone, because they are too costly, can nevertheless carry them out successfully by pooling them. We therefore want to work as a collective, so that the actions we carry out benefit all the players in the region. This is, in my opinion, one of the main reasons why we are managing to advance our decarbonization strategy.
One of your goals is to move from being the “leading emitter of CO₂” to being the “leading emitter of decarbonization solutions”. Does this possibly involve the participation of players from the world of research?
All the actions we carry out actually require a significant commitment from the academic world, but also from the National Education system. Several actions are being implemented in this area, starting with the creation of training courses for decarbonization professions. This also involves significant research and development work. An R&D course is thus being set up by the Université du Littoral Côte-d’Opale, but also the Université de Lille and Amiens, alongside players in electric mobility. They are all working hand in hand on production, but also on recyclingto anticipate the needs that will arise shortly.
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