France is taking steps to bring back its copper mining industry while boosting geothermal energy and lithium projects to support the country’s efforts to wean itself off its dependency on electricity and fuel imports while moving closer to its climate targets.

This type of strategy is becoming increasingly common among European countries

Renewable power sources such as geothermal energy have been taking an increasingly large place in the spotlight as countries aim to slash their greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing their capacity to meet demand. At the same time that this is important to meeting climate goals, it is also being viewed as an issue of national security. Geopolitical tensions worldwide and resource competition are driving countries to become more self-sufficient in critical areas.

Among the measures France intends to put into place includes cutting the time in half for obtaining geothermal energy research permits, as well as those for carbon dioxide storage and for mining. This was formally announced by the country’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.

“Let’s use France’s strengths” with geothermal energy

Le Maire made the announcement as part of a speech he recently gave in front of a geothermal drilling rig in a suburb of the country’s capital city. The draft legislation also allows carbon storage to take place in depleted gas and oil wells.

“Let’s use France’s strengths,” said the finance minister, indicating the renewable energy stored beneath the ground and that is expected to provide heat for about 10,000 households. “We’ve got wind, hydro, biomass, solar energy, as well as resources in our soil that we must quicky use,” he added.

Returning to copper mining

France stopped its copper mining over twenty years ago but is now looking to restart it in order to meet the rising need for cables that will provide a connection to the new solar and wind farm installations as well as to create new interconnected power strategies with neighboring nations, explained Le Maire.

Last year, France published its national geothermal energy action plan. If it sticks to those targets, it will increase its renewable heat through that resource by three times by 2028 when compared to 2022 figures. That will bring its production to 6 terawatt hours. Equally, it will triple the number of geothermal heat pumps to 10 terawatt hours by 2030.