Paris (France) (AFP) – After a summer of record heat, Minister of Ecological Transition Monique Barbut on Wednesday presented to the Prime Minister's office a plan to accelerate adaptation to climate change, the financial contours of which are still unclear.
Published on: 09/30/2026 - 05:42 Modified on: 09/30/2026 - 1:36 p.m.
School, hospitals, housing, transport, forests... After the succession of heatwaves and fires that hit France this summer, Sébastien Lecornu asked Monique Barbut to present new measures to him to "accelerate" the implementation of the third national plan for adaptation to climate change (Pnacc-3).
The latter, published in March 2025, is intended to adapt France to a global warming scenario of 4°C by 2100.
The minister's office confirmed to AFP the date of submission to Matignon of this update of the plan, but did not wish to comment on its content. No communication is planned during the week, he said.
“We know that we are at the end of the cycle, at the end of the mandate, that there are a certain number of subjects which will not move forward there, but there are some which can move forward now,” commented Vivian Dépoues, responsible for adaptation to climate change at the Institute of Economics for Climate (I4CE), interviewed on Tuesday.
According to an assessment of adaptation needs made public on Tuesday by this think tank, an amount of around 10 billion euros per year would need to be mobilized to accelerate the pace.
“Playing on complementarity”
Hospitals and health establishments would thus need an additional 1 to 2.5 billion euros per year, estimates the I4CE, based on data from the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas), and housing, 3.2 billion per year, according to data from the Housing Foundation.
“We need all the tools, we need both an adaptation of the building envelope, we need ventilation, we need shading and we also need air conditioning,” said Jean-François Soussana, president of the High Council for the Climate, on Wednesday during a parliamentary hearing, questioned in particular on schools and health centers.
He called not to "divide too much" on the solutions and to "play on complementarity", after a summer where political proposals went in all directions, notably at the National Rally which called for a general air conditioning plan in communities and in individuals.
The expenses assessed in the I4CE plan should be compared with the losses linked to climate change: the heat waves which hit Europe in 2026 cost 113 billion euros, almost two thirds of which in Italy, Germany and France, the insurer Allianz estimated on Friday.
“It costs public finances first of all not to prepare,” notes Vivian Dépoues, adding that part of the financial burden should be borne by households and businesses, particularly in the water, housing and agriculture sectors.
The financing of this plan, while the government plans a budgetary effort of 54 billion euros in 2027 to reduce the public deficit, remains unclear. Once mentioned, the raising of the Livret A ceiling to finance government measures and release some 10 billion euros per year aroused opposition from the banking lobby.
© 2026 AFP
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