What type of legislation exists dealing with environmental issues affecting building works and with promoting sustainable developments?
Under French law, environmental issues are generally governed by the French Environmental Code (Code de l’environnement). Other issues of interest may involve the French Planning Code, the French Public Health Code, the French Forest Code and the Constitutional Environmental Charter.
Many laws have been published in the recent years to improve building sustainability.
In recognition of the need for sustainable development, the Grenelle de l’Environnement law, which was passed on 3 August 2009 (Grenelle 1), is aimed, in particular to enable standards for lower energy emission to be applied generally in new housing and public buildings, as well as setting up incentives for the renovation of various facilities.
The Grenelle 2 law, passed on 12 July 2010, also known as the national commitment to the environment, gives effect to the principles and directions laid down by the Grenelle Environmental Forum (Grenelle de l’environnement).
The Grenelle 2 law consists of six ‘pillars’, one of them being ‘improving the energy performance of buildings’. The aim was to reduce the energy consumption of existing buildings by 38% by 2020.
The Elan Law passed on 23 November 2018 modified the schedule for the implementation of the energy efficiency works in the tertiary sector by setting the first deadline in 2030 while maintaining the overall ambition of a 40% reduction in energy expenses (50% in 2040 and 60% in 2050) compared to 2010. It also planned to modulate the performance objective according to the size of the building and introduced a new energy and environmental regulation, said “RE 2020”, for all new constructions, which came into force progressively from 1 January 2022.
This ambition was reaffirmed by the Energy-Climate Law passed on 8 November 2019, which aims for carbon neutrality in 2050, and then by the Climate-Resilience Law passed on 22 August 2021, which plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by year 2030. In this respect, the latter notably required to install renewable energy production process or a vegetation system on a proportion of the roof of certain buildings built or renovated, as well as on the shades overhanging the parking areas created, with a minimum coverage gradually increasing from 30% in 2023 to 50% in 2027.
More recently, the Law accelerating the production of renewable energies adopted on 10 March 2023, aims notably to develop solar energy, by requiring the installation of solar panels on half the surface area of parking lots larger than 1500 sqm as from 1 January 2023. Should the car park not be managed under a concession or public service delegation agreement, the obligation must in principle be met as of:
Please note that article 40 of the above-mentioned law provides for a number of exceptions - which have been specified by a decree No. 2024-1023 of 13 November 2024 – so that the operators may be exempted from the obligation to install photovoltaic shading:
The rules of the obligation to develop solar energy and/or vegetal areas on buildings and parking were again modified by Law n° 2025-1129 of 16 November 2025 simplifying town planning. For outdoor parking areas exceeding 1,500 sqm, the solar requirement is deemed fulfilled where at least 50% of the surface includes canopies covering 35% of the area together with green installations, meaning that 17.5% of the parking lot may be equipped with photovoltaic canopies. The obligation may alternatively be satisfied by other renewable energy installations not requiring canopies, provided they generate an equivalent amount of energy.
The law introduces a phased timetable for outdoor parking lots not operated under a public concession or public service delegation. For parking lots of 10,000 sqm or more, the deadline is postponed from 1 July 2026 to 1 January 2028, provided that a binding agreement for the installation of solar panels meeting technical and environmental performance standards is concluded before 30 June 2026 and a purchase order is issued before 31 December 2026. Parking lots between 1,500 sqm and 10,000 sqm benefit from an extension until 1 January 2030, subject to a binding agreement being signed before 30 June 2027 and a purchase order being issued before 31 December 2027.
An additional 18-month extension remains available where contract termination is attributable to the energy producer, without exceeding the final installation deadlines set out above.