France's climate watchdog says current policies are inadequate as third 2026 heatwave strains hospitals and sparks wildfires

France is not prepared for the pace and scale of climate change, according to the High Council for Climate (HCC), an independent body created in 2018 to assess government climate policies. Its annual report, published Thursday, arrives as the country endures its third heatwave since May, with hospitals under strain, wildfires spreading and work disrupted across several regions.

The warming trend

Mainland France and Corsica have warmed by 2.2°C between the periods 1900–1930 and 2016–2025, the report showed. Summer temperatures have risen even more sharply, by 2.9°C, contributing to increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves. Climate researcher Valérie Masson-Delmotte, who worked on the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said France has entered a "dangerous range," with temperatures above 40°C now affecting large parts of the country on a regular basis.

We are entering a tragic period.

HCC president François Soussana made the remark while presenting the report, pointing to heatwaves in May and June that caused thousands of additional deaths. The report stressed that heatwaves are just one result of climate change: droughts, wildfires and extreme rainfall are all becoming more common, each bringing increased health, social, economic and environmental consequences.

Infrastructure built for a past climate

The HCC found that French infrastructure, land planning and economic activity "had been developed and were set up for a climate that no longer exists," as Masson-Delmotte put it. Homes become dangerously hot, students at schools and universities struggle to study, and cities lack enough cool public spaces for vulnerable people to seek relief. The agricultural sector has yet to make climate adaptation a sufficient priority despite repeated climate-related shocks.

Current adaptation efforts favour incremental, technology-based solutions that address some impacts while worsening or shifting others.

On the ground: fires and disrupted services

France 24 reported that in just eight days, 8,000 hectares burned across several regions (more than in the entire month of July last year). Hospitals are overwhelmed, riverbeds are drying up and even ice is in short supply.

The HCC says current adaptation measures are inadequate for the new climate reality. The body called for France to "increase the scale of the amount, scope, reach and speed of implementing adaptation measures."

What the HCC demands

The watchdog's core message is that France must rapidly expand the ambition, scope and speed of its response as global warming effects become more severe. Both emissions reduction and adaptation policies need a "change of scale," as France 24 characterised the call. The report frames the recurring heatwaves, wildfires and health-system strain not as accidents but as symptoms of a radically altered climate.