Cool roof incentives in France 2026: conditional CEE BAT-EN-112, Green Fund, 10 % VAT

The essentials: what really finances a cool roof in France in 2026

The financing of a cool roof is the subject of many approximations, including in earlier versions of this page. Here is the picture as it stands. All the schemes below are French: they apply to buildings located in France.

The cost of the project, for its part, is never displayed on this site: it depends on the area, the substrate, the preparation, the access and the incentives available, and it only exists in the proposal sent after the free study.

1. The CEE BAT-EN-112 premium: the main incentive, under strict conditions

What the sheet says

The French energy-savings certificates (CEE) oblige energy suppliers (“obligated parties”) to finance energy-saving actions at their customers’ premises, through standardised operation sheets. Sheet BAT-EN-112 — “reflective roof renovation” in the tertiary-sector building category — recognises the cool roof as an energy-saving action: the drop in roof temperature reduces cooling needs, and therefore air-conditioning consumption.

The exact eligibility conditions

This is where most pages on the subject get it wrong. The sheet does not apply to “any roof”. It requires, cumulatively:

1. an existing tertiary-sector building, for commercial use;
2. a volume heated and cooled by heat pump;
3. a reflective coating meeting the performance requirements of the sheet when new and after ageing — which PrimaTherm® does with its test reports (95 % reflectance, emissivity 0.89, SRI 120 maintained at 119 after 4,000 h QUV);
4. an installation compliant with the manufacturer’s protocol, documented.

A shop, a shopping centre, a hotel, a restaurant or an office floor for commercial use, air-conditioned by reversible heat pump: yes, subject to verification. An unconditioned logistics warehouse, an industrial workshop, an agricultural building, a school, a residential building: no, not with this sheet as it is written. We check every case during the study, but we do not promise a premium that the sheet does not allow.

The flat rates in kWh cumac by climate zone

The sheet allocates a flat volume of certificates, expressed in cumulative discounted kilowatt-hours (kWh cumac), per square metre of treated roof, according to the building’s French climate zone:

The total volume is simply the flat rate multiplied by the treated area. We calculate it in every study, rounded to the area actually treated.

Why we do not announce a premium in euros

A kWh cumac has no fixed price. Its value depends on the obligated party or delegate you contract with, on the price of certificates at the time of the operation, on the current regulatory period and on your negotiation. Displaying an amount on a web page would be at best out of date, at worst misleading. What we guarantee: the exact calculation of the volume, the technical documents, and an introduction to a CEE partner if you do not have one.

The steps, in order

1. Before signing any quotation: contact with an obligated party or a delegate and formal commitment. A quotation signed before this step makes the operation ineligible — it is the first cause of rejected applications.
2. Quotation and study: the quotation states the area, the system applied and the certified characteristics of the coating; we attach the test reports.
3. Works: application according to the manufacturer’s protocol, site log sheet, film thickness checks, before/after infrared measurements.
4. End-of-operation file: itemised invoice, sworn statement signed by the beneficiary and the contractor, technical evidence, photos.
5. Payment: according to the terms agreed with the obligated party — premium paid after verification, or deducted from the invoice by some delegates.

Unlike the sheets for the residential sector, sheet BAT-EN-112 does not rely on the contractor’s RGE qualification (the French “recognised environmental guarantor” label): it is the technical evidence on the coating and its installation that counts. Allow several months between the commitment and the payment; the timeline is prepared from the study phase onwards.

2. MaPrimeRénov’: why it does not finance cool roofs

The French version of this page carries MaPrimeRénov’ in its URL, because the question is put to us every week. The answer is clear: MaPrimeRénov’ does not cover cool roofs.

MaPrimeRénov’, managed by the French housing agency (Anah), finances listed works — insulation of walls, floors, roofs and lofts, replacement of heating and hot-water systems, ventilation — and major renovations defined by a gain in energy performance classes. Reflective coating is not among these works: it is neither insulation within the meaning of the scheme, nor equipment. MaPrimeRénov’ Copropriété, for co-owned buildings, follows the same logic, with a requirement for an overall energy gain established by audit; a cool roof on its own does not meet it.

What this means in practice:

• for a flat-roofed house, do not build your budget on an incentive that will not come; the PrimaTherm® online shop (in French) and the 10 % VAT if installed by a professional are your two levers;
• for a co-owned building, the case made at the general meeting must rest on the comfort of the top floors, the protection of the waterproofing and the 10 % VAT, not on a subsidy. Our page cool roof for residential buildings and its guide to winning the general-meeting vote are built on this basis.

If the scheme changes, this page will be updated. Until it does, we prefer a clear answer to a disappointed hope.

3. The Green Fund for local authorities

The French Green Fund (Fonds Vert, the fund for accelerating the ecological transition in local territories) supports the projects of local authorities, in particular under adaptation to climate change and energy renovation of public buildings. A cool roof on a school, a nursery, a sports hall, a care home or an administrative building falls within these objectives: it protects vulnerable users during heatwaves and reduces cooling consumption.

What you need to know before applying:

• the priorities and budgets are set every year; some measures close or change scope from one financial year to the next;
• the application is examined by the prefecture of the département, via the online platform in force, with a technical description, a financing plan and impact indicators;
• there is neither a guaranteed rate nor a guaranteed amount: the grant depends on the examination, the number of beneficiaries and the exemplary nature of the project;
• a cool roof makes a better case the more measurable it is: test reports, before/after temperature measurements, consumption monitoring.

The standard investment grants (DSIL, DETR) can also be requested depending on the prefectural priorities of the year; they are not specific to cool roofs. Our page cool roof for public buildings and the one dedicated to schools describe typical projects and timelines (school holidays).

4. Regional and local incentives

The French regions, some départements and some metropolitan authorities offer energy transition or climate change adaptation programmes open to companies, associations, co-owned buildings or municipalities. Their scope, rates and timelines vary and are revised every year; some explicitly exclude painting works, others accept the cool roof under summer comfort or the fight against urban heat islands.

Our rule: check, do not promise. We consult the schemes in force in your territory during the study and tell you which ones deserve an application. For the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the dossier cool roof subsidies in PACA 2026 reviews the regional, departmental and metropolitan programmes. The site’s French city pages (for example cool roof in Marseille or cool roof in Lyon) flag the known local particularities.

5. The 10 % VAT on homes over 2 years old

For a French home completed more than 2 years ago — house, co-owned building, social housing —, improvement, conversion, fitting-out and maintenance works carried out by a professional qualify for the reduced 10 % VAT rate, supply and installation included. A cool roof applied by our teams to the roof of a co-owned building or a house benefits from it, on a simplified certificate signed by the customer.

Two clarifications: the reduced rate does not apply to the purchase of paint alone from the online shop for application by yourself (supply without installation), and it does not concern tertiary-sector or industrial buildings, which come under the standard rate. See cool roof for residential buildings and cool roof on flat roofs.

6. Depreciation and accounting treatment for companies

For a company, a cool roof is an investment in the building. Depending on your situation, it is capitalised and depreciated over its useful life — the conventional service life used by the French CEE sheet is 20 years, on the basis of an SRI maintained after 4,000 h of accelerated QUV ageing — or treated as a maintenance expense if the operation lends itself to it. This choice has tax consequences and is a matter for your chartered accountant; we provide the invoice itemised line by line (preparation, system, inspection) to make the allocation easier. The full economic reasoning, savings levers and payback time, is on the page return on investment of a cool roof.

7. The tertiary-sector decree: not an incentive, but a budget lever

The French tertiary-sector decree (Éco Énergie Tertiaire) does not bring in money; it saves money for those who anticipate. For a tertiary-sector building of 1,000 m² or more, the trajectory of −40 % in final energy consumption by 2030 (then −50 % by 2040 and −60 % by 2050) must be documented every year on the OPERAT platform. A cool roof is a short-payback action that fits into it directly: the reduction in air-conditioning consumption (15 to 40 % depending on the climate zone) shows up in the declared kilowatt-hours. In a budget decision, it therefore stands both on its savings and on the risk it removes. The guide the French tertiary-sector decree and cool roofs details the declaration; the regulatory context puts all the texts in perspective.

8. Combining incentives, timeline and pitfalls to avoid

What can be combined

• CEE + regional incentives: possible in most programmes, subject to the rules of each funder.
• Green Fund + investment grants: local authorities often combine several public sources, within the limits of the public aid ceilings applicable to public procurement.
• CEE + Green Fund: rarely relevant, since sheet BAT-EN-112 targets air-conditioned tertiary-sector buildings for commercial use, which most public buildings are not.
• 10 % VAT: it combines with everything, since it is not a subsidy.

The realistic timeline

• 6 months before the works: free study, eligibility check, decision (vote at the general meeting for a co-owned building, resolution for a local authority).
• 5 to 4 months before: CEE commitment before signing the quotation; filing of Green Fund or regional applications.
• 3 to 1 month before: examination, additional documents, notification.
• Works: about one week for 3,000 m², within the weather window from April to October.
• After the works: end-of-operation file, payment according to each funder’s timescales.

The pitfalls

1. Signing the quotation before the CEE commitment.
2. Counting on MaPrimeRénov’.
3. Filing a Green Fund application without measurements or indicators: a cool roof makes its case with before/after figures.
4. Forgetting the prior declaration to the town hall (Article R. 421-17 of the French planning code): a grant application does not exempt you from planning rules.
5. Confusing the volume of kWh cumac with a sum of money.

9. What we do for you

• Eligibility check from the free study onwards: use of the building, type of air conditioning, climate zone, area, calculation of the volume of kWh cumac.
• Technical documents: Tipee test reports (reflectance, emissivity, SRI new and aged), CSTB Broof(t3) report, technical data sheets, ten-year insurance certificate, installation description.
• Introduction to a CEE partner if you do not have one, without exclusivity.
• Material for public applications: description, impact indicators, before/after infrared measurements, consumption monitoring on a pilot site if you wish.
• Itemised invoice line by line and reduced-rate VAT certificate for homes.

We do not manage the applications on your behalf and we take no commission on the incentives: we give you what is needed for them to succeed.

10. Four situations, four answers

To make the conditions concrete, here is how they play out on four typical buildings we come across every week.

A 2,500 m² shop in zone H3, heated and cooled by heat pump. Tertiary-sector building for commercial use, volume air-conditioned by heat pump: sheet BAT-EN-112 applies, for 270 kWh cumac per m² treated. The commitment with the obligated party precedes the signing of the quotation; the test reports and the site log sheet make up the file. The tertiary-sector decree also applies above 1,000 m².

An 8,000 m² logistics warehouse in steel deck, unconditioned, zone H2. No heat-pump air conditioning, no commercial use within the meaning of the sheet: no CEE premium. The levers are depreciation, operator comfort, protection of the steel sheet and, for a site subject to it, the tertiary-sector decree. We say so before the study, not after.

A 900 m² flat-roofed school, zone H1. Neither commercial tertiary-sector nor air-conditioned: no CEE. On the other hand, a Green Fund application under adaptation to climate change makes a good case, with simple indicators (classroom temperature before/after, number of pupils concerned), and the works are scheduled during the summer holidays.

A co-owned building of 40 units, 700 m² roof terrace. MaPrimeRénov’ Copropriété does not apply and neither does the CEE sheet. What remains is the 10 % VAT on supply and installation, the prior declaration to the town hall, and a case for the general meeting based on the comfort of the top floors and the service life of the waterproofing.

11. The documents of a CEE application that succeeds

A BAT-EN-112 application that is rejected is almost always rejected for a missing document or an inconsistent date. Here is what we prepare with you:

• the proof of commitment with the obligated party or delegate, dated before the signing of the quotation;
• the quotation and invoice stating the treated area, the system applied and the certified characteristics of the coating;
• the test reports: reflectance ASTM E903, emissivity ASTM C1371, SRI ASTM E1980 when new and after 4,000 h of ageing;
• the proof of the building’s air-conditioning mode (heated and cooled by heat pump) and of its commercial use;
• the sworn statement signed by the beneficiary and by the contractor;
• the site log sheet and the before/during/after photos.

We add nothing unnecessary and we omit nothing mandatory: it is the only way to secure the volume of kWh cumac calculated at the outset.

In summary

A cool roof is financed first by what it saves, then by schemes of which only one is specific — CEE sheet BAT-EN-112, reserved for tertiary-sector buildings for commercial use air-conditioned by heat pump — and by public grants to be examined case by case for local authorities. MaPrimeRénov’ is not one of them. The simulator (in French) gives a first order of magnitude of the savings; the free study establishes actual eligibility, within 48 h.