Climate demands political leadership

The 7,000 excess deaths reported in mid-August and the billions of euros in expected climate-related damages from France's 2026 heatwave have failed to prompt a response from national political leaders commensurate with the scale of the event. Since the first unseasonable heat spike in May, the French public has been met with silence from some and inadequate or demagogic statements from others.

Yet, as paleoclimatologist Jean Jouzel has noted, climate change is no longer a scientific debate but an eminently political problem. The gap between France's loud international commitments on climate and their faint echo in everyday life can only erode public trust. Whatever the heatwave's final toll turns out to be, it should already have triggered a clash of visions, the presentation of shared solutions, and a mapping-out of sustainable long-term strategies – all of which exist. Silence can only be read as either an inability to act or, worse, a lack of will to do so.

The Paris region has suffered an especially severe toll. With 2,000 excess deaths between mid-June and early July, the "all-cause mortality" tracked by the French national health agency soared by 81.2%. That's a double record, both in time (since 2003) and in space (no other region has seen such peaks). In Paris, the city with the highest heat-related mortality in Europe, Socialist mayor Emmanuel Grégoire can't be accused of climate denial, but has offered little beyond candor, admitting to Le Monde in June that efforts so far had been "makeshift." Conceding that the city had "erred" in targeting the distant deadline of 2050 for adaptation, he said: "It's time to listen more closely to the scientists and experts who have solutions."

Brightening the Future

In the face of the crisis, political leaders on both the right and left have undermined themselves. Much to the dismay of her own camp, Environment Minister Monique Barbut, a not-quite-resigned member of the cabinet, praised the radical-left La France Insoumise platform as the most comprehensive on climate issues, while the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), leading in polls ahead of the 2027 presidential election, has offered nothing at all.

Yet it seems likely that all French people, including those who will vote for the RN, are expecting political leadership that signals action and provides clarity for the future. One way to start is by helping citizens navigate the contradictions in society, such as rampant consumerism versus planetary limits, individualism versus sharing resources and low prices versus healthy food.

The younger generations, who will inherit the environmental debt, could rightfully feel abandoned by politics. BBecause of constraints related to housing, income, and health, the most vulnerable remain deprived of the means to choose among adaptation solutions, despite some support for housing or mobility. Are the victims of climate change doomed to vote for those who neglect it?

The gap between citizens' heightened awareness of the crisis and the lack of commitment from their elected officials can only stoke anger. A persistent, depressive sense of fatalism could emerge from this heatwave, and it urgently needs to be countered. Counting on the collective suffering to be quickly forgotten once autumn and rain return would amount to abdication.