France Reconsiders Its 'No Air Conditioning' Policy Amid Record Heat

[Financial News]  As Europe suffers through record-breaking heat, French society, long cautious about adopting air conditioning, now faces a turning point that could force it to rethink its long-standing taboo and overhaul its cooling policy.
On the 24th local time, Sky News reported that as temperatures across France climbed to near-record highs of almost 40 degrees Celsius, a heated debate over air conditioning has erupted in politics and civil society.
According to France's meteorological authorities, temperatures that day rose to their highest level since 1947, pushing the average daytime and nighttime temperature to 30 degrees Celsius, slightly above the previous day's 29.8 degrees.
For years, France has restrained air conditioner use because of environmental pollution and energy consumption. But as climate change intensifies, a more pragmatic view is emerging that the country can no longer hold out.
At present, only about 25% of French households have air conditioning. That is far below neighboring Spain and Italy, where the rate reaches 50%, and the United States and Japan, where it stands at 90%.
The shortage is not limited to private homes. Public facilities are also lagging, and very few schools and hospitals have air conditioning. As temperatures soared this week, thousands of schools were forced to close, while medical staff and nursing home workers have been struggling in unbearable conditions.
Even a large general hospital under construction in Nantes, Brittany, is drawing strong opposition from medical unions because air conditioning is planned for only half of its wards.
Political clashes over air conditioning are also intensifying. In particular, the National Rally (RN), led by populist right-wing lawmaker Marine Le Pen, has called for a 'national cooling plan' that would install air conditioning in all schools and hospitals nationwide.
RN spokesperson Jean-Philippe Tanguy argued that the government should provide 20 billion euros in interest-free loans so that 30 million to 40 million households can install cooling systems. Critics, however, dismissed the proposal as an opportunistic pledge with no cost estimate, saying it lacks credibility for a far-right camp that was among the last to acknowledge the reality of climate change and is now talking about climate policy.
Some observers also say the government's long-standing 'anti-air conditioning' policy made the situation worse.
Valérie Pécresse, governor of Île-de-France, criticized the government for being trapped in an 'anti-air conditioning ideology' and said she would introduce air conditioning on all buses and trains in Paris by 2032.
Even within the left-wing environmental camp, which has long strongly criticized reliance on air conditioning as a temporary fix rather than addressing the root causes of climate change, more pragmatic compromises are now emerging.
Marie Toussaint, leader of Europe Ecology – The Greens, said this week that 'there are places such as schools and hospitals where people simply cannot endure without air conditioning anymore,' effectively breaking with the so-called 'anti-air conditioning dogma.' For the head of an environmental party to acknowledge the need for air conditioning is seen as highly unusual in French society.
Environmentalists have opposed air conditioning because of the electricity it consumes and because the hot air released by outdoor units can raise urban temperatures by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius, contributing to the urban heat island effect. They have also warned that leaks of refrigerant gas can worsen the greenhouse effect.
But as concerns grow over heat-related deaths, Sky News said opinion is converging on the conclusion that expanding air conditioning is ultimately unavoidable.

jjyoon@fnnews.com Yoon Jae-jun Reporter