How NaTran is supporting the decarbonisation of industry in the Seine Axis in Normandy

From Le Havre to Rouen, the Seine Valley has long been home to numerous industrial players. Normandy’s industrial landscape is strongly driven by intensive industries such as refining, chemicals, petrochemicals and fertiliser production, and therefore remains highly carbon-intensive.

In this context, the Seine Valley has applied to join the ZIBaC programme (Zone Industrielle Bas Carbone, or Low-carbon industrial zone) run by ADEME (the French green transition agency), with the aim of launching and supporting collective decarbonisation initiatives. The application was accepted and the project has been granted funding for 50% of the €14.8 million cost of research that will provide a strategic framework for its ambitions.

SOCRATE was established in 2023 to manage the allocation of this funding. The project is supported by three industrial groups from the Normandy section of the Seine Axis: UPSIDE Boucles de Rouen, INCASE-Industries Caux Seine (Port-Jérôme and its region), Synerzip-LH (Le Havre industrial port zone), as well as HAROPA PORT, the river and sea port on the Seine Axis.

At the heart of this drive, NaTran plays an important role in the process. “We have been supporting the decarbonisation of Normandy’s industrial fabric for a long time, and know its players well,” explains Pierre Monin, NaTran’s Seine Valley regional delegate. “It came naturally to us to support the application of these organisations, of which NaTran is a long-standing partner.”

As part of the ZIBaC programme, SOCRATE offers a unique opportunity to work collectively on decarbonising Normandy’s industry.

NaTran has committed to co-funding seven of the 30 study packages selected, four of which are already underway. Some promising results were presented in early 2025.

• A framework study, common to all the ZIBaCs, focuses on the creation of a low-carbon industrial fabric. The aim here is to map the companies that will be involved in the energy transition in the Normandy area.
• Another study is looking at the potential for producing renewable gases by recovering waste locally, with projects being implemented across the Seine Axis. The first phase of the study drew up an inventory of the resources available locally for the production of renewable gases. Published at the end of March, its results show a remarkable potential of 3.7 million tonnes of raw materials (TMB) available per year. Two-thirds of these resources could be recycled through methanisation, while the remaining third would be used for new processes, such as hydrothermal gasification for the treatment of sludge and industrial waste, or pyrogasification for the treatment of household and similar waste and wood waste.
  The second phase of the study will provide a technical and economic analysis of production processes with industrial players.
• The third study concerns the capture and transport of CO₂, a key lever for decarbonisation, complementing the drive for energy efficiency, as part of the national CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage) strategy.
• Lastly, a study is looking at recovering CO₂ for the production of e-fuel and e-SAF (electro-sustainable aviation fuel) and their use in the chemicals industry in the Seine Axis.

“It is essential to unite Normandy’s industry players around collective solutions. NaTran has the expertise needed to integrate these local issues into a wider dynamic, whether regional or national,” emphasises Pierre Monin.

For example, NaTran is keen to explore the issue of hydrogen transport along the whole of the Seine Axis, by supporting the Île-de-France and Normandy regions in their application to the European Hydrogen Valley programme. In addition, the DKHARBO project, carried out in partnership with Equinor, aims to capture CO₂ and store it in the North Sea, from the port of Dunkirk. For Pierre Monin, “this initiative paves the way for a broader strategy, encompassing a large proportion of northern France.”