Low-carbon technical change in the building sector is a promising solution to address the challenges of climate change, energy security, and public health. We aim to investigate the effects of various environmental policies on low-carbon innovation in the building sector where strong investment barriers transpire, focusing on France as a case study. Pollution taxes, subsidies, standards, which induce more low-carbon innovation? Using a quality index for patents and a Polynomial Distributed Lag Model, our results suggest a limited impact of a carbon tax on promoting low-carbon innovation within the building sector in France. Moreover, our findings indicate that subsidies targeting less polluting technologies emerge as a primary driver of qualitative innovation. Additionally, our study reveals that energy standards for buildings exert a significant albeit temporary influence on the number of patents in relevant technological domains.