Choose France 2026: accelerating low-carbon reindustrialization in Europe

The ninth edition of the Choose France summit, held on June 1, 2026, at the Château de Versailles, once again confirmed France’s attractiveness to international investors*. With €93 billion in announced investments and more than 15,000 jobs created, this edition set a new record and reflects strong economic momentum in an uncertain global environment.
Beyond these impressive figures, Choose France 2026 sends an even more structural signal: that of a European reindustrialization underway, with a central role for the energy, critical materials, and decarbonization industries.

Attractiveness driven by both industry and innovation

While artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure largely took center stage, this edition confirmed that industrial transformation is an equally essential pillar of France’s attractiveness—especially as the AI and data center sectors are also emerging as particularly relevant drivers for accelerating materials decarbonization, notably through the procurement of low-carbon steel and iron.
The summit highlighted a clear ambition: to make France a place where 21^st-century industries are built, particularly in the fields of decarbonized energy, transition-critical materials, and industrial sovereignty.
This direction is reflected in major investments in concrete industrial projects—factories, production lines, and energy infrastructure—that are helping to sustainably transform regions and European value chains.

Fos-sur-Mer: a strategic hub for industrial decarbonization

Among the emblematic regions of this transformation, the Fos-sur-Mer industrial basin is playing an increasingly central role.
Several announcements made during Choose France 2026 confirm the growing strength of this industrial ecosystem:

• The Italian group Marcegaglia announced an additional €600 million investment, bringing its low-carbon steel plant project in Fos to €1.2 billion, with the ambition of becoming the first new steel mill built in France in over fifty years.
• The American group Ecolab plans to invest €100 million in France, notably at the heart of the future low-carbon iron value chain, including GravitHy.

These announcements are part of a broader trend: the gradual structuring of an integrated low-carbon steel production hub based on electrification, circular economy principles, and low-carbon hydrogen.
In this context, GravitHy plays a key role with its project to produce direct reduced iron (DRI) using low-carbon hydrogen, targeting a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year by 2030.

Accelerating industrial project: a clear political priority

Another key takeaway from this edition is the authorities’ determination to accelerate the implementation of strategic industrial projects.

The French President reaffirmed the importance of fast, coordinated, and efficient action to remove barriers and secure investments in a highly competitive international environment.

This approach—often referred to as the “Notre-Dame method”—is based on a simple principle: mobilizing all stakeholders—government, local authorities, and industry—to reduce timelines and rapidly turn decisions into tangible outcomes.

At a time when industrial projects linked to the energy transition require massive investments and tightly controlled timelines, execution capacity is becoming a decisive competitive factor.

Driving projects forward through strategic engagement

Beyond the announcements, Choose France remains a key moment to concretely advance industrial projects.

Each year, the event brings together more than 200 international executives, investors, and public decision-makers, offering a unique platform to:

• Strengthen industrial partnerships,
• Accelerate operational discussions,
• Align priorities between public and private stakeholders.

For GravitHy, these exchanges are essential to consolidate its industrial project in Fos-sur-Mer, mobilize its ecosystem, and move forward with the next development phases—particularly by strengthening dialogue with investors and financial partners, securing the funding required for project deployment, and structuring a base of investors committed to the decarbonization of heavy industry.

Its participation in Choose France for the second time also reflects the strength, credibility, and structuring role of GravitHy within the French landscape of industrial decarbonization projects.

Building low-carbon steel value chains in Europe

The announcements and discussions at Choose France 2026 confirm a fundamental trend: the need to build decarbonized, integrated, and sovereign industrial value chains in Europe.

In the steel sector, this implies a profound transformation of production methods, notably through:

• The development of low-carbon hydrogen,
• The electrification of industrial processes,
• The integration of recycled materials and new technologies.

This is precisely where GravitHy positions itself, with the ambition to contribute to low-carbon iron production in Europe—a critical first step toward sustainable steel manufacturing.

A collective momentum to accelerate

Finally, Choose France 2026 highlights a key reality: the industrial transition will not be achieved through isolated initiatives, but through comprehensive ecosystems bringing together industrial players, investors, public authorities, and regions.

The growing prominence of the Fos-sur-Mer area is a concrete illustration of this dynamic.

For GravitHy, this collective momentum represents a major opportunity: to actively contribute to Europe’s sustainable reindustrialization by helping build the infrastructure and industrial capacity required to achieve carbon neutrality.

*1^st investment destination in Europe for the 7^th consecutive year (source Elysee).

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