PARIS - The French industry minister Roland Lescure on Friday launched a call for interest for carbon capture at various sites to help carbon-intense industries abate emissions.

The goal is to help top emitters like cement producers, steelworks and aluminum factories capture carbon emissions to prevent the effects of climate change, Lescure said at the Technip Energies site in the central French department of Yonne.

Carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) is the process of trapping carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels or other methods and storing it in spent oil wells and other storage sites.

A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) in April said that CCUS technology is unlikely to play a major role in decarbonisation due to low capture rates, high costs and a track record of underperformance.

Interested companies will have until the end of June to apply, with the main storage targets being either the last of the oil well operators in France or owners of exhausted and depleted wells.

Subsidies and investment aids are being made for machines that utilise CCUS technology, Lescure said.

"We want to go fast because the planet does not wait, because we want to be carbon neutral in 2050 and that every year lost is a year of loss," Lescure said.

He added they also aim to reduce the time it takes to receive permits for the installation of CCUS technology in factories.

"We have to be able to simplify permitting, which means that if you are already able to go and get oil in a place, you will be able to send back CO2 there," Lescure said.

The second phase is expected to last until mid-December, which will involve the French state testing the various sites for capture and storage capacity. If these tests are successful, the first storage should be able to start as early as 2027, Lescure said.

The minister added that a decarbonisation strategy for the transportation industry is expected in the coming weeks.

(Reporting by Forrest Crellin; editing by David Evans)