France air conditioning debate grows as heat waves hit Paris
Successive heat waves have pushed air conditioning into French politics, with Paris weighing cooling needs against climate risks.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
The France air conditioning debate has moved into national politics after repeated heat waves pushed Paris temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for days at a time, NPR reported. The issue matters because a country long skeptical of air conditioning is now being forced to weigh public safety against the added heat and emissions linked to cooling systems.
NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reported that France has been at the center of what she described as Europe’s hottest summer ever. Climate scientists say Europe is warming faster than any other continent, according to NPR, making formerly moderate cities such as Paris far harder to live in during summer heat.
At a Paris home-improvement store, shoppers were shown on TF1 struggling to buy air conditioners and fans, NPR reported. The rush came after three consecutive heat waves sent temperatures past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, compared with past Paris summer temperatures that typically stayed in the mid-80s, according to the report.
Why is France debating air conditioning?
Air conditioning has become controversial in France because the country has historically viewed it as unnecessary, noisy, unattractive and associated with American-style consumption, NPR reported. The heat waves have changed the politics: many people who once rejected it now want access to cooling, especially for vulnerable residents.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen used the heat as a campaign issue, saying on BFM TV that she would create a broad air-conditioning program if elected president, starting with people most at risk, according to NPR. President Emmanuel Macron’s environment minister, Monique Barbut, pushed back on Radio France news, arguing that air-conditioning emissions are part of the problem driving higher temperatures and will not stop fires, crop damage or heat stress among farm animals.
Health and climate experts cited by NPR agree that schools and hospitals should be cooled. They also warned that installing air conditioning across dense cities such as Paris would worsen the urban heat problem.
Architect Eytan Levi told NPR that air conditioning has limits in Paris because many older buildings cannot have their historic facades altered. He also said air conditioners release hot air outdoors, which can build up in a dense city with limited green space and raise surrounding temperatures.
Levi pointed to the Climate Academy, a city-run climate-awareness organization in a 19th-century Paris building, as an example of other cooling measures. NPR reported that a former parking area in its inner courtyard was planted with 12 fruit trees, lowering the temperature from 95 degrees in direct sun to 77 degrees under the canopy, according to Levi.
Paris City Hall is also replacing some stone plazas with small urban forests and adding rooftop greenery, NPR reported. On the Climate Academy roof, Levi showed a pilot project by Roofscapes, a company he co-founded, that uses a wooden deck and planters to cool zinc and slate rooftops.
Levi told NPR that about 80% of Paris roofs are made of zinc and slate, materials that conduct heat. On one roof, exposed zinc measured nearly 144 degrees Fahrenheit, while the wood-covered section measured about 70 degrees, according to NPR.
Urban planner Magda Maaoui, who once lived under one of the city’s zinc roofs, told NPR that top-floor apartments can become unlivable during heat waves. She and Levi said they do not oppose air conditioning, but they see it as one part of a wider plan to prepare Paris for a hotter climate.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.