Harv's Corner 08/25/2025

Harv's Corner

Think it's hot today?  It's going to get hotter.  Here is what Paris is doing to prepare for a future of massive heatwaves.

Paris braces for a future of potentially paralyzing heat
​By CATHERINE PORTER The New York Times

​PARIS - Imagine Paris at 122 degrees Fahrenheit. That's 50 Celsius.
The asphalt streets would melt in spots, making it virtually impossible for ambulances and buses to pass. Lights and fans could cut out in neighborhoods if underground cables burned or junction boxes shifted. Cellphone service might go down as antennas on boiling rooftops stopped working. Trains would halt as outdoor rails swelled, keeping nurses, firefighters, and electricity engineers from reaching their jobs when they were most needed.

Those are situations city officials are already planning for. France has recently experienced its second heat wave of the summer, with temperatures reaching record highs last week in the southwest and heat alerts covering three-quarters of the country. In Paris, this has become the new normal. Eight of the 10 hottest summers recorded in the city since 1900 occurred since 2015.

In 2019, temperatures in Paris hit a record, nearing 109 degrees. Scientists predict that it will worsen, particularly since climate change is warming Europe at more than twice the global average. In 2022, city officials asked climate scientists whether Paris might experience heatwaves that reach 50 degrees Celsius shortly.

Their answer was yes, possibly, by the end of the century, or as soon as 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions increase exponentially. But the scientists' modeling showed that scenario was unlikely if global pledges from the Paris climate accord were met and the rise in warming was kept below 2 degrees Celsius.

"I don't think we should bet on that as a society," said Alexandre Florentin, a green city councilor and environmental engineer who spent more than a decade working at Carbone 4, a leading French climate change mitigation and adaptation firm.

He led a committee of city lawmakers from all political parties to examine the capital's vulnerabilities to extreme heatwaves. They published their report in 2023, which was separate from the crisis simulation. They found that there were temperature thresholds that could cause widespread breakdowns, leading to a cascade of crippling domino effects.

Another important finding was the vulnerability of schools to a heat wave that hits during the school year, such as in late June.

"The classes will close, and that will have rippling consequences all through society," Florentin said. "If their parents work at a hospital or the electricity facility, there will be bigger problems" — meaning understaffing at crucial times.

His strongest recommendation was for the city to invest more in green and shaded yards and to transform schools into "passive" cooling centers with designs that allow for more air circulation or utilize geothermal cooling systems, rather than relying on electricity.

Nearly 15,000 people died from heat-related causes in 2003 during a heat wave that hit France that August. Many were older adults living in apartments with zinc roofs that had no insulation or air conditioning.
In response, the country drafted its first national heatwave plan and introduced a system for registering isolated older or disabled individuals, allowing them to be checked on during heatwaves.

A nonprofit group has organized events across France, featuring chefs who create menus sourced locally, which require no ovens or stovetops, thereby reducing the heat's exacerbation. Another group has been bringing doctors, pharmacists, and medical scientists together to discuss how they can prepare for the health crises and new diseases a hotter climate will bring.

The city government has doubled down on its adaptation plans, pulling up asphalt parking places and the center of roads to plant trees — 15,000 last winter alone, said Dan Lert, deputy mayor in charge of the city's ecological transition and its climate plan.
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Where the city cannot plant trees, officials are installing more shade structures and water misters to provide relief during hot days. They opened three bathing sites on the Seine River this summer, so people have places to cool down safely.

Another key part of the plan is insulating the city's buildings to resist heat waves better. But the challenge is daunting. There are 1 million private apartments in Paris, few of which have insulation, Lert said.