Now the area close to the Belgium border -- one of Europe's industrial powerhouses -- wants to catch its pollution before it escapes.
The limestone is heated to more than 1,000 degrees Celsius for 24 hours in kilns 50 metres tall to produce the calcium oxide needed by the steel and paper pulp industries."We have the capacity to produce 700,000 tonnes of quicklime a year, so we emit about an equivalent amount of CO2," said Yves Boraccino, the manager of the plant in Rety, where nearly every surface is coated in white dust from a nearby quarry.
The International Energy Agency says that even if it works, carbon capture would have to be scaled up 100,000-fold by 2050 to hit net-zero targets. The CO2 will then be separated off and piped to a terminal in Dunkirk that will hold 1.5 million tonnes of the gas when it opens in 2028.The Lhoist site in Rety is not the only one in the area aiming to clean up its act.