Ecological transition and industry: Rhone Gard and the Pont du Gard territory take action

A national system implemented at the local level so that all stakeholders in the Gard Rhone and the Pont du Gard region (industrialists, businesses, financiers, communities, etc.) coordinate. Objective: decarbonization and the ecological transition of industries. Midi Libre – C.C.

The communities of communes of Rhone Gard and Pont du Gard are committed to the ecological transition of industry. This Wednesday, the strategic steering committee of the Gard rhodanien-Pont du Gard industrial territory was launched for the period 2023-2027, at the Marcoule Institute of Separative Chemistry.

"This industrial territory(*), it’s a tool for everyone to coordinate." Large meeting this Wednesday morning in the amphitheater of the Marcoule Institute of Separative Chemistry. The strategic steering committee of the Industrial Territory "Gard rhodanien- Pont du Gard" for the period end of 2023-2027 was launched in the presence of the prefect of Gard, the presidents of the intermunicipalities of Rhone Gard and Pont du Gard, the CCI, elected officials, financial partners, community representatives and business owners.
During the press conference which followed, the president of the Agglo du Gard rhodanien Jean-Christian Rey recalled that the territory produces 650,000 tonnes of CO2, 45% by industry. "We want to move towards decarbonization. An industrial territory, it is a battery of services (State, Region, CCI, communities) serving collective, industrial projects. The CleanTech Valley will support and carry these action sheets, and take the territory on a real story for people who want to carry out projects here.  The complexity is to bring together energies to carry out a common project in our territories. And it’s good for the planet", summarized Jean-Christian Rey. Pierre Prat, president of the community of communes of Pont du Gard, specified: "We want to achieve decarbonization in 2040, ten years before what the law requires." As for the prefect, Jérôme Bonet, he underlined: "This issue is at the crossroads of public policies […] employment, training, regional planning, infrastructure, mobility, it’s the whole territory thought by this prism."

In 2024, 5.7 million euros for Occitanie

In France, 183 territories are labeled “Industry Territories”, 15 in Occitanie. In 2024, for the Region, 5.7 million euros are put on the table by the State (100 million nationally), for "industrial innovation, new factories, new production lines, etc., linked to the ecological transition", specified Jean-Baptiste Gueusquin, national director of the Territories of Industry program. Denis Largeau, director of the Sanofi factory in Aramon, welcomes "the collaboration between elected officials and industrialists. We are invested in this project. Reducing our environmental impact is in our genes". While some regret the lack of dynamism in the first phase of the program, there is hope with the award of management to CleanTech Vallée. So "this launch dynamic is very important", will add its president, Isabelle Martin.

Needs and solutions of the local ecosystem

The morning was an opportunity to present some of the 76 action sheets divided into four areas (training, innovation, ecological transition, land). "If 30% of the projects come to fruition, that's already good", said a participant at the end of the meeting. Among these "sheets", territorial marketing, a project already carried out by the Agglo du Gard rhodanien to attract new employees and new skills. Julien Feja, vice-president of the Collective (an association which brings together twelve business groups) and boss of Groupe D & S, represented the companies of Gard Rhone. He confirms:"We need to innovate to meet the needs of customers, industrial and nuclear operators, to invent tools and methods and promote the ideas of our employees." His company has a significant project presented in Marcoule this Wednesday: STEDA, for Scalable waste treatment solutions for the future. This involves "developing technical blocks which will treat hazardous waste, and then being able to recover the materials to reuse them. It would be implemented here. These would be mobile units. We already have technical solutions, we will look for envelopes to co-finance. We would like a demonstrator to be created within three to five years". The overall project would cost 8 to 10 million euros.
Orano also presented two action sheets, the first linked to extending the life of the Melox plant beyond 2040. "We invest 400 M€ for the factory, indicates Régis Faure, from the communications department of Orano Melox. 70% of this sum is linked to the addition of machines to our processes, 30% for improving maintenance and innovation. We are going to need suppliers , partnerships. We claim that this effort will be associated with Territoire d’industrie because we will stimulate the local ecosystem." And to add: "We need a lot of skills, hence the recycling professions campus that we created in 2022. This school has become a training tool for our employees and subcontractors . We want to show that this school is a tool for cooperating with high schools, universities, engineering schools, professional training centers…"  

(*) Territory of Industry is a national program created at the end of 2018 and relaunched last year. I subscribe to read more