Vicat Group has been awarded a Grand Projets Industriels de Décarbonation (GPID) grant by the French government to advance its VAIA (Vicat Advanced Industrial Alliance) decarbonisation initiative, the company said.
The GPID grant follows earlier backing for the VAIA project under the European Innovation Fund programme in November 2025 and represents a key public funding milestone as studies progress toward a final investment decision scheduled for 2027.
VAIA targets the capture and storage of 1.2Mt of CO2 per year at Vicat’s Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant, the largest cement facility in France. The project is designed to create a complete carbon management value chain in the Rhône Valley, encompassing CO2 capture, transport, use and liquefaction for geological storage — positioning the site at the forefront of an emerging industrial decarbonisation sector.
The GPID grant forms part of the French government’s Major Investment Plans to accelerate the country’s industrial and ecological transition by supporting innovative, structuring decarbonisation projects that enhance competitiveness and modernise infrastructure.
Vicat says VAIA could become a reference for cement industry decarbonisation, leveraging large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) in a hard-to-abate sector and supporting long-term climate goals.
