French building regulations for new constructions are limiting the installation of air conditioning systems due to carbon dioxide emission criteria [1].
This conflict between environmental policy and public health occurs as France experiences intensifying heatwaves. The tension highlights a growing struggle to balance national decarbonization goals with the immediate need for climate adaptation in residential and commercial sectors.
Cyrille Vanlerberghe, the science and medicine editor-in-chief at Le Figaro, said that regulations for new constructions hindered the presence of cooling methods during the summer [1]. He said that the specific criteria regarding CO2 emissions led to a climate where installing air conditioning was actively discouraged [1].
These regulatory hurdles coincide with extreme temperature spikes across the country. During a heatwave in 2025, temperatures reached a peak of 41.6 °C in Durban-Corbières, located in the Aude department [2]. Additionally, a national heat record for May was broken in Angoulême, where temperatures hit 37.8 °C [3].
The impact of these policies is felt by residents who find themselves unable to cope with the rising heat. Louis Lamothe, a Quebec student who left Paris due to the heatwave, said, "We open the shutters, then we cross our fingers" [4].
The current framework prioritizes the reduction of the carbon footprint by limiting energy-intensive systems [1]. However, as peak temperatures continue to rise, the lack of integrated cooling in new buildings creates a gap between the legal requirements for energy efficiency, and the physical requirements for human safety during summer months.
““Les réglementations des constructions nouvelles handicapaient la présence de moyens de refroidissement l'été””
The situation illustrates a policy contradiction where short-term carbon mitigation strategies may undermine long-term climate resilience. By discouraging active cooling to meet emission targets, France risks creating a new stock of buildings that are unfit for the increasingly hot summers predicted by climate models, potentially shifting the energy burden to inefficient, portable cooling units.
