France's historic aversion to air conditioning is starting to crack as its population suffocates in a deadly heatwave. The country recorded its hottest day on Thursday while Britain and Spain broke their own June records.
Even Green leader Marine Tondelier has said that AC was no longer a "taboo" subject as people took to sleeping parks to escape the heat and schools sent children home because the temperatures in classrooms were unbearable.
Not all Parisians are convinced. France should not copy the US, where AC is the norm, says sustainable fashion designer Beatrice Ferrant. Paris, she adds, is unique – and that must be encouraged.
"In America, it’s cold everywhere," Ms Ferrant told The National, speaking from her Saint-Germain-des-Pres shop – a 500-year-old building that once lodged Benedictine monks and later sold pigments to Picasso and Braque. "Americans want air conditioning. Fine, but I want trees."
To cool down, she throws water outside the door in the morning and opens her business earlier, while adding a long midday break.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire, who recently described AC as a "plague", would probably agree with her. The French government views AC as a last-resort measure to adapt to climate change, because it is energy intensive and ejects hot air outside.
Minister for Ecological Transition, Monique Barbut, Friday said she was "appalled by people who tell me we should just install air conditioning everywhere." "Do you think that will prevent forest fires or the death of animals? That isn't adaptation; it's an emergency measure," she said.
A recent study shows that eight out of ten people in France view AC as not respectful of the environment. Though increasing number of people are installing AC, numbers remain relatively low - some 27 per cent of houses and 12 per cent of flats are equipped with the technology.
Carbon footprint
But some scientists are pushing back. "The public health benefits of air conditioning far outweigh – in France – its limited impact on the climate and the environment," Francois Gemenne, a member of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and co-director of the Defence and Climate Observatory in Paris, wrote in a LinkedIn post.
France's largely nuclear electricity grid means AC carries a far smaller carbon footprint than in most countries, he argued – a point that applies equally to Spain and Portugal, which increasingly rely on solar power.
And while the heat expelled by ACs can warm the city's surface areas by as much as 2°C, it does not affect climate change, Mr Gemenne said. But he warned that ACs "cannot replace collective adaptation solutions".
Despite decades of warnings about heatwaves by scientists, this week's soaring temperatures appeared to take France by surprise. More than 3,500 schools shut on Thursday as temperatures rose above 30°C in class. Trains were cancelled or delayed.
Many headed for the nearest water spot. In Paris, the Canal Saint-Martin was open to swimmers earlier than scheduled. But across the country, 55 people drowned, largely because they swam in unsupervised areas.
The high temperatures also forced landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre to shut early. At the Longchamp Racecourse west of the capital, thermometers hit 41°C.
No reprieve
For those who want to install AC, the obstacles are formidable. Those who proceed without permission can be taken to court and ordered to remove the units. The result is a proliferation of portable AC devices – less efficient, with tubes snaking out of windows. In the UK, climate laws have forced people to do the same.
For tourists, the experience can be jarring. "Coming to Paris is difficult. There is no reprieve anywhere from the heat," Tracy, a tourist from Florida in the US, told The National. Her father, Tom, said "the lack of ice is pretty challenging".
"We’ve purchased a lot of water but it’s not cold by an American definition. So that takes a little getting used to," he added.
Ms Ferrant has spent five years trying to get local authorities to allow shop owners on her street to put out potted plants. She is philosophical about the pace of change.
"French procedures are slow. But you can't ask everything from the government," she said. "If Americans visit, they might complain about the lack of air conditioning. But they are delighted to come to Paris because what we offer doesn't exist back home."
For just how long Parisians can keep an open-mind about adaptation is an open question. Heatwaves are expected to multiply faster than public authorities invest to change millennia-old cities built for a climate that is now vastly different. Mr Gregoire said Paris's climate would soon resemble that of Seville, in southern Spain.
Ines, who was working without AC in a Paris shop, vented her exasperation over the conditions. "We make do with the means at hand, but it’s true that working [in these temperatures] is very hard," she said.
Her building, constructed in 2021, was designed to retain heat – a feature in winter, but a problem in summer. Her local town hall has opened a cool room for residents, but she doubts it is enough. "Cities need to adapt," Ines added. "Unfortunately this summer is probably going to be remembered as cool, compared to what we're going to endure in the future."
Political moves
Divisions over ACs have become political. The French far right, which is poised to win next year's presidential election, wants to offer ACs for all – a measure rejected on the left, which is seeking better adaptation measures.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for a maximum workplace temperature limit this week, as he launched a Heat Ready London plan to tackle the conditions. Mr Khan, one of the hosts of London Climate Action Week during the record June temperatures, called for AC units to be installed to schools, offices and hospitals. Residents of southern England faced temperatures of about 36°C amid a three-day red warning for extreme heat.
Officials are under increasing pressure to help the UK adapt to the growing risk of extreme heat fuelled by human-driven climate change. Mr Khan said it was “very important” for workplaces, schools and hospitals to have AC with climate change set to bring increasingly hot conditions to London in the coming decades.
The London plan warned of the health effects of rising temperatures and backed measures to prioritise support for vulnerable residents in high-risk, built-up areas.
The UK's Green Party leader Zack Polanski said Mr Khan's proposals do not go far enough, particularly on imposing a maximum workplace temperature limit. "I welcome the Mayor publishing a heat plan, which is a step above the government's dangerously complacent 'wing-it' approach to planning for extreme weather," Mr Polanski said.
