France · European Union / EEA
Paris for climate-tech expansion
Large domestic market, heavy state backing for climate industry, and salaries below London for comparable talent.
Indicative year one
€290,220
3 people, desks and set-up · €96,740 per person
Cost rank
12 of 14
Lowest first-year cost is rank 1 across the benchmarked corridor cities.
Entity
4 days
Typical incorporation time.
Where Paris is strong
- France 2030 and ADEME programmes put real public money behind climate industry
- Strong engineering schools and comparatively affordable senior salaries
- Big utility, transport and construction buyers headquartered locally
What to watch
- Employer social charges near 45% dominate the cost of a hire
- French is effectively required for public-sector and corporate sales
Sector strengths
- Energy
- Built environment
- Mobility
- Agri-food
- Nuclear and grid
Setting up: A French SAS can be registered in days online; expect French-language paperwork.
The numbers, and where they come from
Indicative benchmarks compiled from public sources for comparison. Confirm figures with a local adviser before committing budget.
Cost to operate
Prime office rent
€950
EUR per m² per year
Headline rent for good-quality central space. Fringe and industrial space is cheaper.
Around average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Source: Commercial property benchmarks (CBRE / JLL market reports)
Coworking desk
€420/mo
EUR per desk per month
What a small landing team actually pays in month one, before signing a lease.
Below average · reference year 2025 · Requires review
Headline corporation tax
25%
% of profit
Combined national (and local, where it applies) headline rate. Reliefs are not included.
Below average · reference year 2026 · Verified primary source
Source: National revenue authorities / OECD corporate tax statistics
Employer social charges
45%
% on top of salary
The real cost of a hire is salary plus this. It moves first-year budgets more than rent.
Below average · reference year 2026 · Verified primary source
Source: National social security authorities / OECD Taxing Wages
People
Senior engineer salary
€62,000
EUR per year, gross
Midpoint for an experienced engineer. Cheap talent and deep talent rarely sit together.
Around average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Source: Salary benchmarks (Eurostat earnings, national tech salary surveys)
Technical talent depth
88/100
index, 0–100
Size of the local engineering and climate-technical workforce you can hire from.
Above average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Source: Eurostat / national labour statistics on ICT and engineering employment
English working proficiency
66/100
index, 0–100
How easily an English-first team can hire, sell and handle paperwork locally.
Below average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Source: EF English Proficiency Index
Living
Home rent, one bedroom
€1,400/mo
EUR per month, central
What relocating a founder or first hire actually costs them each month.
Above average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Cost of living
86/100
index, London = 100
Everyday costs excluding rent, indexed against London.
Around average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Quality of life
76/100
index, 0–100
Health, safety, environment, transport and commute — what keeps a team once it is hired.
Below average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Source: OECD Better Life indicators / Mercer quality-of-living ranking
Capital
Climate-tech VC invested
€1,500m
EUR millions per year
How much climate money is actually deployed locally, and so how many investor meetings exist.
Around average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Grant and public funding access
90/100
index, 0–100
Breadth of grant routes a company based here can apply to, national and EU or UK level.
Above average · reference year 2026 · Verified secondary source
Source: National innovation agencies, Horizon Europe and Innovate UK programme scope
Climate-tech
Testbeds and industrial demand
78/100
index, 0–100
Places to run a real pilot: test rigs, port and grid infrastructure, industrial buyers.
Around average · reference year 2026 · Requires review
Source: GreenLaunch ecosystem directory (named testbeds, catapults, ports and utilities)
Market access
Population within two hours
26m people
millions of people
How many customers a salesperson can reach and return from in a single day.
Above average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Public procurement openness
72/100
index, 0–100
How realistically a foreign SME can win public and utility contracts here.
Below average · reference year 2025 · Verified secondary source
Source: EU Single Market Scoreboard / UK Cabinet Office procurement data
Setup
Time to incorporate
4 days
working days
How fast you can have a local entity able to sign contracts and open a bank account.
Above average · reference year 2026 · Verified primary source
Source: National company registries (Companies House, KVK, Bolagsverket and equivalents)
Visa and relocation route
78/100
index, 0–100
How straightforward it is to move a founder or key hire here and keep them.
Around average · reference year 2026 · Verified secondary source
Source: National immigration authorities (skilled-worker and startup visa routes)
Free soft-landing support in Paris
- Business France
National agency supporting foreign companies setting up in France.
- Choose Paris Region
Regional soft landing: sites, funding, talent and partner introductions.
Routes that land in Paris
The order of work for a specific move, with the guides and organisations that matter on each one.
Expanding a UK climate-tech company into France
A route into France for UK climate-tech companies: language and procurement realities, city choice, EU funding access and cross-border tax basics.
Score Paris against your own company
GreenLaunch weights every one of these figures against your sector, stage, customers and priorities, compares up to four cities side by side and produces a shortlist report you can share with your board.