The Vicat Group has officially been awarded the Innovation Fund grant for its VAIA project.
The announcement that the VAIA project had been selected was made by the European Union on November 3, 2025.
The European agency CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency officially announced the list of winning projects under the Innovation Fund 2024 program. The Vicat Group’s VAIA (Vicat Advanced Industrial Alliance) project is among the beneficiaries, with a grant of €149,998,000.
The announcement that the VAIA project had been selected was made by the European Union on November 3, 2025.
The European Union's Innovation Fund finances innovative projects in carbon-intensive sectors. Its goal is to accelerate the market launch of clean technologies and contribute to European climate objectives of carbon neutrality by 2050.
This grant marks a key milestone in the development of the VAIA project. Studies are ongoing, and the investment decision is scheduled for 2027.
The VAIA project aims to capture and then sequester nearly all CO2 emissions, which equates to 1.2 million tonnes per year, at the Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant in Isère, the largest in France in terms of cement production capacity.
The project also enables the creation of a unique value chain handling up to 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year, serving as the initial anchor point in the Rhône Valley for a complete sector encompassing the capture, transport, utilization, and liquefaction of CO2 for storage.
This contractualization confirms the significance and scope of this project, which is also supported by the GPID (Major Industrial Decarbonization Projects) initiative, awarded by the French government on February 12, 2026.
Click here to download the image of the Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant (38).
Financed by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed here are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the funding authority can be held liable for them.
About Vicat:
VICAT has been a leading industrial player in the field of mineral and bio-based building materials for 170 years. Vicat is a group listed on Euronext Paris (member of the SBF 120 index) and is majority-owned by the founding family. With the ambition of achieving carbon neutrality across its value chain by 2050, the company currently operates in three main business areas: Cement, Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) and Aggregates, as well as complementary activities to these core businesses. Present in 12 developed and emerging countries, the cement group employs more than 10,000 people and achieved consolidated revenue of €3.854 billion in 2025. As a company firmly rooted in the regions it serves, VICAT is developing a circular economy model that benefits everyone, innovating daily to reduce the environmental impact of construction.
Vicat media contact
Raphael Hinninger
07 61 74 86 52
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