With my fondness for cars and interest in sustainability, this story about French car parks caught my eye recently. (I know, sounds obscure, even for me!)

Recently approved legislation requires all car parks with spaces for at least 80 vehicles to be covered by solar panels. This applies to both new and existing sites. It’s a mid–long-term project, with sites with 80–400 spaces having five years from July 2023 to become compliant. Larger car parks will have three years and at least half of their surface area will have to be covered with solar panels.

The plan is expected to generate the equivalent of ten nuclear reactors and power millions of homes as part of Macron’s large-scale investment in renewables. The French president is aiming to multiple the solar energy produced in his country tenfold and double the power generated by land-based wind farms.

Hopefully energy companies will invest more in UK infrastructure in coming years (it would certainly be a positive form of tax ‘avoidance’ for them) and we might also see initiatives like this on our side of the Channel.