{"id":45523,"date":"2026-07-03T12:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/45523\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T12:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:35:08","slug":"as-france-swelters-an-old-taboo-on-air-conditioning-finally-starts-to-melt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/45523\/","title":{"rendered":"As France swelters, an old taboo on air conditioning finally starts to melt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A person shelters under an umbrella by the Eiffel Tower in Paris during a heat wave last week.Tom Nicholson\/Reuters<\/p>\n

For several days last month, temperatures in France matched those in the Sahara desert, placing the country among the top 1 per cent of hottest places<\/a> on the planet.<\/p>\n

As the thermometer surpassed 40 C in Paris, overheated hospitals turned into death traps for the most vulnerable and residents roasted in unventilated apartments, while the young and desperate plunged into a soupy-looking Seine and even murkier Canal Saint-Martin for relief. <\/p>\n

With another heat wave \u2013 the third since late May \u2013 forecast to grip parts of France this weekend, French leaders are on the hot seat (no pun intended) for failing to prepare the country for what climate scientists have long warned was inevitable, with temperatures rising faster in Europe<\/a> than anywhere else for the past three decades. <\/p>\n

Opinion: Berlin\u2019s lack of air conditioning is getting as old as its buildings<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have adapted to global warming, but we cannot adapt to a peak that has no equivalent in Europe today and has never had an equivalent in our history,\u201d French President Emmanuel Macron shot back against critics who accused his government of failing to equip public buildings with air conditioning. <\/p>\n

Prime Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu this week said the government had placed an emergency order for 30,000 air-conditioning units<\/a> to be installed in hospitals. But most of them are portable units that are considered less effective than central air conditioning or two-way heat pumps that cool indoor temperatures in summer.<\/p>\n

The political fallout from last month\u2019s heat waves is certain to snowball if the summer of 2026 proves as record-breakingly hot as many experts are predicting it will be. After a devastating canicule was blamed for causing 15,000 heat-related deaths in the summer of 2003, France implemented a strict protocol for municipalities to follow during heat waves. The measures include checking in regularly with elderly and vulnerable residents to ensure their safety. But France\u2019s climate-adaptation policies have not included installing air conditioning. <\/p>\n

The Editorial Board: The dangers of isolation in a sweltering city<\/a><\/p>\n

Indeed, until recently, even suggesting the idea has been taboo. Politicians on the French left have steadfastly resisted equipping public buildings with AC, while many city councils and condo boards have made it next to impossible for residents to install individual air-conditioning units by adopting regulations against noise and visual pollution.<\/p>\n

About one-quarter of French households have air conditioning, but they are disproportionately located in the south of France. That compares with around 90 per cent of U.S. households<\/a> and 68 per cent of Canadian homes<\/a>. In Ontario, the figure stands at 83 per cent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Making matters worse, the signature zinc roofs that cover Paris, which are protected under heritage laws, trap heat in upper-floor apartments. Without air conditioning, these units are becoming increasingly uninhabitable, exacerbating the city\u2019s housing shortage. <\/p>\n

Yet, as Parisians stewed in boiling heat last week, Mayor Emmanuel Gr\u00e9goire, a socialist elected in March, defended current AC-unfriendly bylaws<\/a>. He called individual air-conditioning units a \u201cscourge\u201d that \u201camplify the problem\u201d by spewing hot air outside. <\/p>\n

Mr. Gr\u00e9goire\u2019s deputy, Audrey Pulvar, blasted American commentators for \u201cmaking fun of Paris because the city does not have AC in every room.\u201d In an Instagram post<\/a>, she added: \u201cAs the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, you bear a significant responsibility for the consequences we, in France, are experiencing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, with the next French presidential election only 10 months away, even French Green Leader Marine Tondelier has had to soften her stand against AC, conceding this week that installing air conditioning in public buildings is \u201camong the solutions\u201d her party is now proposing to prepare the country for future heat waves. The Greens also vow to spend \u20ac7-billion ($11.4-billion) annually to increase urban vegetation and install heat-blocking shutters.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Air conditioning may kill you: The drawbacks of overadapting to a burning world<\/a><\/p>\n

While the leading contenders to replace the term-limited Mr. Macron have all suddenly come forward with climate-adaptation proposals, none has seized on the suffering of sweltering French voters more than the far-right National Rally Leader Marine Le Pen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is shameful that babies born in hospitals, that the sick, that elderly people, are forced to endure such heat because they refuse to install air conditioning,\u201d she wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cSuch heat kills, we must put in place a major AC plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Rally promises interest-free loans to municipalities and homeowners to install air conditioning, pegging the cost at around \u20ac20-billion ($32-billion). But critics say the plan favours wealthy cities and homeowners over poorer ones most in need of help.<\/p>\n

With some experts predicting summer peak temperatures could approach 50 C in France by 2050, the cost of preparing for a hotter future is now shaping up as a major election issue just as the country grapples with a massive budget deficit and growing fears of a debt crisis. <\/p>\n

For now, however, daily dips in the Seine may be the only way to survive the Paris summer.<\/p>\n