Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu at the Hôtel de Matignon, April 10, 2026. IAN LANGSDON/AFP
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Friday, April 10, a ban on installing gas heating systems "by year's end" in new buildings, including multi-unit housing, to curb France's dependence on fossil fuels.
"As long as we depend on oil and gas, we will continue to pay the price for other people's wars," Lecornu said in a recorded address from the prime minister's residence. He outlined initial steps in a plan to electrify heating and transport.
The war in the Middle East "is not our war, yet it affects us very directly. Fortunately, France has an asset: electricity produced on its own soil," mainly from nuclear sources, he said. The government's goal is to reverse the trend by 2030: shifting energy consumption from 60% oil and gas to 60% decarbonized energy.
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