France offers billions to help its climate-damaging industries halve emissions

Cement manufacture is one of the biggest CO2-emitting activities in the world, accounting for up to 8 percent of global CO2 emissions. France's big cement industrials such as Lafarge are being called on to cut their emissions by half within a decade. © Getty Images/EyeEm/Herianus Herianus

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the heads of 50 of France’s most carbon-emitting firms to halve their greenhouse gas emissions by 2032 – promising to double state aid to help them to act, providing they remain in France.

Just a day after returning from the UN climate summit (COP27) in Egypt, Macron invited representatives of 50 of the most climate-damaging industrial sites to discuss how to carry on producing in France whilst drastically reducing their carbon footprint.