France plans to ban heaters used by restaurants and cafes on outdoor terraces from early next year, as it accelerates a shift to a low carbon economy, Ecology Minister Barbara Pompili said on Monday.
“What’s at stake is ending ecologically aberrant practices that lead to totally unjustified energy consumption,” she said on French television.
Because the ban could impact a sector hard hit by the coronavirus crisis, the government will only implement it from the end of the coming winter to give business time to adapt, she said.
France is among the European countries seeking to ensure that stimulus measures to tackle the economic crisis caused by the novel coronavirus drive a transition to a low carbon economy.
President Emmanuel Macron in June promised 15 billion euros ($17.63 billion) of new funding for a greener economy, a day after the Greens trounced his party and took control of big cities in local elections.
He has also promised measures including a moratorium on building new commercial zones in city outskirts to help protect small city retailers and prevent wasted journeys.
The government is drawing up draft environmental legislation, which Pompili said parliament would review in January.