What is in news : French President unveiled a five-year, €30 billion ($35 billion) investment plan for developing innovative technology and industrial activity, including building small nuclear reactors, electric cars and greener airplanes.

DETAILS

• Aim – Boost France’s economic growth over the next decade amid growing global competition with China
• The plan includes €8 billion to develop energy technology that would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Funding would finance the building of small, modular nuclear reactors in France, which relies on nuclear power for 70% of its electricity.
• EU leaders have agreed that nuclear energy could be part of the 27-nation bloc’s commitment to making its economy carbon-neutral by 2050, giving member countries the option of using it in their national energy mixes. This plan would make France “the leader of green hydrogen” power, a form of energy which does not emit carbon dioxide and can be used in industries such as steel and chemical manufacturing that currently rely on fossil fuels.
• Calls for €4 billion to be used to develop about 2 million electric and hybrid cars by the end of the decade.
• Will “massively invest” in building its first “low-carbon plane” by 2030. The plan also provides money to develop by 2026 a reusable launch system to propel spacecrafts.