Industrial transition is no longer an option
Yves Nussbaum, Director of the Process Industries Division at Equans France
The digital and energy transition, a barometer of performance and competitiveness
Between political instability and international change, economic players need to set a clear course. Health, energy and food are all historically strategic industrial sectors for which the digital and energy transition is now the barometer of performance and competitiveness.
Battery gigafactories, semiconductor plants and data centers complete a landscape marked by the ever-present issue of sovereignty and its corollary, attractiveness, for so many regions that havesuffered from deindustrialization.
Industry is no longer content to respond to societal and economic expectations, it is actively projecting itself and setting in motion a new dynamic.
Industry is reinventing itself to mitigate its effects in terms of pollution, over-consumption, resource depletion, environmental damage and biodiversity.
It's precisely because the industry itself provides the answers to these challenges, which we might call contributions, that the idea of a contributive industry is gaining ground. It can even claim to be regenerative, thanks to its positive impact on production performance , the environment and the human factor.
Current tensions are keeping up the pressure on industry to adapt ever more effectively to our ecosystem and its constraints.
This translates into strong objectives on the greening of energies, the efficiency of installations, agility in production processes and the acceleration of reindustrialization and relocation processes.
Making carbon neutrality a priority
The industrial transition must make carbon neutrality a priority, which means improving process performance through the necessary transformations and innovations. Re-examining business models and their pillars is essential.
“ No transition will be possible without optimizing energy consumption, simplifying usage and combating all forms of waste throughout the value chain. The objective is as ambitious as it is decisive for our ecosystem, since industry is one of the main emitters of carbon and greenhouse gases, after transport, agriculture and construction ”
To comply with the national "low-carbon" strategy, the industrial sector must reduce its emissions by 35% by 2030, and amplify the process to achieve an 81% reduction by 2050.
Energy savings, plant efficiency and flexibility help reduce energy bills, thus contributing to investment capacity and purchasing power
The environmental and climatic challenge has taken on an economic dimension, making it a strategic focus for manufacturers and public authorities alike, via support and investment plans to successfully adapt production facilities.
In the long term, energy savings, plant efficiency and flexibility can reduce energy bills, which in turn can be transformed into investment capacity or increased purchasing power for consumers.
Innovation will naturally play a pivotal role in this trajectory. The development and valorization of waste heat is a prime example.
Tracking down energy wasters opens up a number of very concrete prospects, some examples of which are given below:
Gigafactories, semiconductor plants and datacenters have become symbols of the transformations underway
The industrial transition that is taking place before our very eyes is taking place in parallel with an energy and digital transition. Disruptive technologies, notably digital, are paving the way for more agile and resilient business models.
This virtuous trajectory opens up a host of prospects, with concrete opportunities to combine agility and proximity, both in major industrial sectors and in the emerging markets that support them.
In this respect, gigafabs, semiconductor plants and datacenters have become symbols of the transformations underway.
“ Equans is convinced that it is by continuing to invent new models, while relying on technological levers, that we will succeed together in meeting the challenges of the triple industrial, energy and digital transition. Together, let's build a sustainable and innovative future, transforming today's challenges into concrete opportunities for 2025 and beyond. ”
