French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu rolled out plans Friday to accelerate a shift to electric power for transport and housing after the Middle East war spiked oil and gas prices.
The US-Israel war on Iran, launched on February 28, has engulfed the Middle East in violence and sent oil prices soaring after Tehran virtually blocked the key Strait of Hormuz.
“The war in the Middle East is not ours, and yet it affects us very directly,” said Lecornu in a recorded speech.
“Fortunately, France has an asset: electricity generated on its own soil,” he added.
Already before the war, France wanted to phase out fossil fuels.
The new measures are an update to an energy plan presented in February aimed at cutting reliance on imported fossil fuels, partly by ramping up nuclear power production over the next decade.
Lecornu said the government would nearly double its support for domestic electric power, increasing funding from €5.5 billion ($6.4 billion) to €10 billion.
The premier also announced a ban on gas heating systems in new builds by the “end of this year” and for some two million social housing units to phase out gas heating by 2050.
From June, the government will help fund the leasing of around 50,000 additional low-cost electric vehicles for frequent drivers hit by soaring fuel prices, including care workers, nurses, and tradespeople.
France is also planning subsidies for electric commercial vehicles or heavy goods vehicles of up to €100,000 per vehicle, Lecornu said.
“As long as we depend on oil and gas, we will continue to pay the price for other people’s wars,” he said.
France aims to pivot its energy from 60 percent reliance on oil and gas to 60 percent carbon-free energy by 2030.
The country operates 57 nuclear reactors and has six more planned and is seeking to generate more energy from offshore wind farms.
In March, French President Emmanuel Macron said civilian nuclear power helped provide energy sovereignty, warning dependence on hydrocarbons can become a “tool of pressure”.
