Norway-France Press Statement on Cooperation for Green Industrial Transformation

The Ministers agreed to work towards a strategic industrial partnership encompassing areas of mutual interest. Norway and France have a long-standing economic cooperation and are long time trusted European partners and allies. In the context of the rapid development of net zero technologies, the dialogue and cooperation will enhance the two countries’ already close industrial and energy relations and contribute to new opportunities for Norwegian and French industrial companies. In particular, industrial opportunities in CCS, critical materials, batteries manufacturing and recycling, and renewable energies could emerge from this cooperation.

The Ministers agreed to meet again in Paris for the 2^nd French-Norwegian Green Industry Forum in January, to further accelerate this partnership.

– The decarbonization of our economies will require an industrial revolution: a massive deployment of net zero technologies in the next three decades. To that end, international technological cooperation is needed more than ever. This is why we want to enhance the dialogue between Norwegian and French industries, that count among the leaders of decarbonization. Carbon Capture and Storage will be a cornerstone of this cooperation, since the remarkable CO2 storage programme carried out by Norway makes it a natural partner for the French industry that recently committed to ambitious 2030 capture targets in the plan presented in June by Agnès Pannier-Runacher and myself. But I am certain that this dialogue will be fruitful beyond CCS, from critical metals and batteries to green ammonia, renewable and low-carbon energies, said Minister of Industry Roland Lescure

– Today, Norway and France agree to enhance our dialogue and cooperation further as a strong follow-up of the Letter of Intent to promote mutually beneficial cooperation on the development and deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) signed in December last year. I feel confident that closer cooperation between us can provide important contributions towards climate neutrality and prove valuable within a range of topics. I look forward to exploring the opportunities that lies within areas such as hydrogen, green maritime, CCS, batteries and more. I am impressed by the French Government’s ambitious green industrial plans as well as the important part France play in the global efforts to solve the climate crisis, said Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Christian Vestre. 

 

Norway and France both have presented ambitious plans for the green transition to take place:

The French government presented this summer its ecological planning, a comprehensive 2030 strategy for the decarbonization of the economy, aiming to divide by two national carbon emissions in the next decade. This plan includes industrial strategies to develop the key technologies of the transition: batteries, hydrogen, carbon capture, renewable electricity and heat generation, as well as a national critical metals mining plan, all prepared jointly by Ministers of Energy and Industry, Mrs. Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Mr. Roland Lescure. A green industry act, including a tax rebate for all green industries, has been voted by the Parliament in October 2023 to accelerate the deployment of these industrial strategies.

This autumn the Norwegian Government presented the Green Industrial Initiative 2.0, which takes stock of the development and fulfilment of 100 measures introduced one year ago and including around 50 measures as well as two new areas of priority: solar PV and manufacturing. The initiative is an updated version of the Government´s Green Industrial Initiative from 2022 which ensure the green transition focusing on seven priority areas, these were offshore wind, batteries, hydrogen, CO2 management, the process industry, the maritime industry and the forest and timber industry and other bioeconomy sectors.