The Future Is NEUTRAL takes a first decisive step in opening up its capital, with the entry of SUEZ as a strategic shareholder, at 20%, alongside the historical shareholder, Renault Group.

The Future Is NEUTRAL benefits from a contribution valued at €140 million from its two shareholders, allowing it to pursue its growth plan.

In addition, SUEZ will provide human support to The Future Is NEUTRAL, through the appointment of a person to the Management Committee.

The completion of this investment and contributions is subject to the prior regulatory authorizations required for this type of transaction.

Supported by its two shareholders, industrial flagships, and references in their respective sectors, The Future Is NEUTRAL strengthens its capacity to support the various players in the automotive sector in the implementation of circular economy solutions.

The material and human contributions of its two shareholders contribute to supporting its ambitious growth plan, aiming to reach €2.3 billion in cumulative turnover from its activities and a double-digit profit.

“SUEZ’s decision to team up with us in The Future Is NEUTRAL is new evidence that we did the right move when we came up with this model. Our joint investment will allow us to accelerate towards our goal: to provide an open circular economy platform that meets the needs of all players in the automotive industry in growing activities. We are doing this by strengthening existing operations and creating new closed-loop recycling solutions, from car to car” states Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault Group.

“By investing in The Future Is NEUTRAL alongside Renault Group, SUEZ is moving into a stronger position to support automotive industry players on their ecological transition. Securing secondary raw material supplies is one of the key challenges the automotive sector has to address over the coming years. Our expertise in waste recycling and recovery will enable us to support the sector’s transformation as it transitions towards more circularity and to reduce its reliance on virgin raw materials,” explains Sabrina Soussan, Chairman and CEO of SUEZ.

A COMBINATION OF HIGH-LEVEL EXPERTISE AND A SOLID INDUSTRIAL BASE

The Future Is NEUTRAL, a 360° player in the circular automotive economy, “from car-to-car”, is strengthening its positions, thanks to a unique combination of technical expertise and industrial capacities made available by its two shareholders.

SUEZ brings: its complete mastery of automotive recycling, its expertise in automotive waste management – collection, massification, sorting and recovery of the material – and its industrial capacities to produce homogeneous flows of recycled raw materials on an industrial scale.

Following the transaction, INDRA becomes a 100% subsidiary of The Future Is NEUTRAL, strengthening the company’s presence across the entire value chain of the automotive circular economy and thus further addressing the entire automotive industry.

Renault Group provides its knowledge in eco-design and automotive life cycle, as well as the industrial capacities of the Flins Refactory (France), the first European circular economy factory dedicated to mobility.

The Open Innovation Hub, dedicated to supporting Climatech start-ups, is closing its third incubation program recruitment campaign.

The call for applications, running from March 18 to July 12, 2024, is aimed at entrepreneurs keen to:

• Proposing circular economy solutions in mobility or energy
• Encouraging reuse, recyclability, and reparability
• Promoting the energy transition
• Moving towards sustainable mobility

To apply -> https://hub.refactorybyrenaultgroup.com/program/the-future-is-neutral

After an initial in-depth study of each project, the shortlisted start-ups pitch to a jury made up of experts from The Future Is NEUTRAL and the Flins Refactory. Finalists are offered a 6-month incubation program (from September 19, 2024).

The program includes access to :

✅ The expertise of The Future Is NEUTRAL, Renault Group and ecosystem partners

✅ Comprehensive support tailored to each project’s level of maturity

✅ A sessions dedicated to key circular economy topics such as: circular business, LCA, eco-design, choice of materials, recyclability, impact measurement

✅ A Qualiopi-certified training course on entrepreneurship.

✅ Scaling up

At the end of the incubation program, incubated startups will have the opportunity to get acquainted with investors, partners, and journalists at a Demoday. This unique opportunity has already helped more than 30 startups previously supported by The Future Is NEUTRAL Innovation Hub.

The Future Is NEUTRAL took part in the ChangeNOW 2024 Summit, the biggest event for positive impact solutions for the planet, from March 25 to 27 at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris.

As a unique partner to the automotive world, The Future Is NEUTRAL was there to present its circular economy solutions. They are designed to meet the needs of all players in the sector and adapted to each phase of the vehicle’s life cycle from sourcing and producing to the usage and the end-of-life.

Taking part in ChangeNOW was an opportunity to highlight The Future Is NEUTRAL’s long-standing expertise in the automotive circular economy. The company’s activity consists in developing, on an industrial and European scale, a closed-loop automotive circular economy, from car to car. It targets all players in the automotive industry and support them in their efforts to reduce their impact on natural resources.

Over the three days, The Future is NEUTRAL manned a stand in the zone dedicated to the circular economy. Two key moments marked its participation:

• The thematic event dedicated to the automotive industry’s transition to the circular economy, New circular economy models in the automotive sector. During which, leaders from the automotive sector and beyond shared their ideas on this market opportunity in Europe and on the conditions for a successful circular automotive industry.
• The round table Transforming businesses across the value chain, which allowed Jean-Philippe Bahuaud to share his experience of implementing the new automotive circular economy value chain.

As the first company 100% dedicated to the automotive circular economy in Europe, it was an obvious choice for The Future Is NEUTRAL to partner with a global event aiming to positively impact the planet.

The 2023 edition of ChangeNOW, the international event dedicated to environmental solutions was held in Paris last May. At the show, The Future is NEUTRAL was identified as a player driving change within the automotive sector, which is currently undergoing a profound ecological transition. In a speech devoted to the circular economy, Jean-Philippe Bahuaud, CEO, The Future is NEUTRAL, underlined the challenges at stake regarding closed-loop recycling in his field.

The Future is NEUTRAL is a holding company that sprung from Renault Group’s environmental activities in October 2022. Its purposes is to offer closed-loop recycling solutions to the automotive industry at each step of the vehicle life-cycle, from the supply of parts and materials to the car’s end of life.

Despite being 85% recyclable, cars only contain between 20 to 30% recycled materials and The Future is NEUTRAL aims at reversing this trend so that more recycled materials go back into the production of new cars, as Jean-Philippe Bahuaud underlined during the ChangeNOW show.

Jean-Philippe Bahuaud also addressed the challenges at stake regarding circular economy and the automotive industry, mainly having enough sourcing of end-of-life cars materials, the right network of recycling experts, basically the possibility to go at scale so that recycling used car parts is profitable and sustainable enough to make the long run. And this is where The Future is NEUTRAL’s partnerships kick-in, he said, since the company brings together the expertise and track-record of its partners and subsidiaries, each offering end-to-end solutions for recycling, reuse and renovation.

Indra’s 2023 edition of its annual convention was held on 29 and 30 January in Monaco, in the South of France. The convention brought together over 500 people and 175 approved EOL center companies. A record. It welcomed several external speakers, representatives of the PFA (French automotive industry platform) and independent organizations such as the ADEME (Environment and Energy Management Agency) and the IDDRI (Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations).

In his introduction, Loïc Bey-Rozet, CEO of Indra, underlined the growth opportunities brought about by the Agec law – the anti-waste law for a circular economy – which now involves the end-of-life vehicles (EOL) sector. He mentioned the key role EOL centers will play in this regulatory context and the energy transition of the automotive sector. “The planets are now aligned, with manufacturers becoming aware of the need to build up an extensive supply of parts from the circular economy (PIEC) for car repairs and to increase the reintegration of recycled automotive materials into the production of new vehicles,” he said.

Jean-Philippe Bahuaud, CEO of The Future is NEUTRAL, Indra’s shareholder, presented the company’s strategy and underlined its mission to accompany the automotive industry in this transition with its closed-loop recycling solutions throughout the vehicle’s life cycle.

The challenges of the Agec law were again at the heart of the discussions during a round table of experts. The convention went on with working sessions and exchanges between participants.