According to Xinhua, Paris has been shrinking below temperatures approaching 40°C for the past week, as red alerts of extreme heat heat cover most of France.
Summer heat in France is rarely so intense, and the country's housing system reflects that. According to data from the Ecological Transformation Agency, only about 24% of French homes are equipped with air conditioning by 2025. Most households still rely on fans, shutters and ventilation to cool down. Old buildings, rooftop apartments and public facilities such as schools, hospitals, and nursing homes are particularly vulnerable when temperatures rise sharply.
This year's heat wave has spread throughout essential services. The French grid operator said prolonged high temperatures are stressing transmission lines and increasing the risk of equipment failure. As of Friday morning, about 50,000 users have lost power. In Paris, some subway and tram lines have stopped operating or reduced frequency.
However, what the heatwave exposed is deeper than infrastructure weaknesses, with roots in chronic shortages in public investment. The French Green Fund, launched in 2023 with an initial budget of 1.5 billion euros to finance climate adaptation projects, has been cut to only 837 million euros in the 2026 financial bill. Ms. Monique Barbut, Minister of Ecological Transformation, acknowledged that existing funds are still far from meeting actual needs.
In that context, the government leans towards relying on available policy tools, targeted subsidies and the participation of local authorities, instead of sharply increasing public spending. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu recently announced 100 million euros to install cooling equipment in hospitals.
That caution stems from cold figures. France's public debt was 3.54 trillion euros at the end of the first quarter of 2026, equivalent to 117.5% of GDP, an increase of 75.6 billion euros compared to the previous quarter, according to Insee, the National Institute of Statistics. Although the deficit has narrowed to 5.1% of GDP in 2025, this figure is still much higher than the EU's 3% threshold. Debt repayment costs are also escalating, with interest payments expected to skyrocket to 77.4 billion euros in 2026.
Economic losses from successive summer heat waves have attracted attention in France in recent years. A report released in May by credit insurance firm Allianz Trade warned that France could lose up to 240 billion USD in the next 5 years if the heat becomes more frequent.
The report emphasizes that labor productivity is the first victim, when the temperature exceeds 30°C, work efficiency decreases significantly. Allianz Trade estimates that by 2030, extreme heat may reduce France's annual tax revenue by about 1.8%, equivalent to about 10 billion euros per year.
