France to Ban Gas Heating in New Buildings by Year-End

France to Ban Gas Heating in New Buildings by Year-End

France: Sébastien Lecornu announced that the installation of gas heating systems will be banned in all new constructions, including collective housing, from the end of this year in France. The measure forms part of a broader plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and promote electrification of energy use. The announcement was made on April 10 at Hôtel Matignon, where initial steps of the government’s energy strategy were outlined, including a target to shift from 60 per cent oil and gas consumption to 60 per cent decarbonised energy by 2030.

“As long as we depend on oil and gas, we will continue to pay the price for other countries’ wars,” the Prime Minister stated. “The war in the Middle East ‘is not ours, and yet it affects us very directly. Fortunately, France has an advantage: electricity produced on its own soil,” primarily from nuclear power, he argued. He also stated that support for electrification will increase from EUR 5.5 billion (USD 6.0 billion) to EUR 10 billion (USD 10.9 billion) per year by 2030, funded through reallocation of existing resources. In the housing sector, he added that “two million social housing units will be switched off from gas by 2050.”

Source: Le Monde