Emergency swimming and alcohol bans: what cities could learn from Paris's ‘heatwave mode’ | Helen Massy-Beresford

With temperatures forecast to reach 42C from Wednesday, Paris authorities are putting in place more collective measures to help heatwave-hit Parisians. As well as the alcohol ban, parks will stay open around the clock so that people can get fresh air when it’s cooler. “Cool islands”, such as air-conditioned public buildings, offer refuge from the scorching heat. Some outdoor sporting events have been cancelled and many schools have closed or are sending pupils home early.

Paris’s short-term measures come against the backdrop of a long-running drive to make the city greener and cooler: misting machines and water fountains in parks, more cycle lanes and green spaces and shadier school courtyards.

Some of Paris’s heatwave-busting plans make fun photo-ops: after the resounding success of Seine swimming last summer, the city’s new mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, seized the opportunity to win over a few hearts last week, when he went down to the Canal Saint-Martin in person to tell locals he was bringing forward the opening of a dedicated swimming zone there.

But the city is also taking climate emergency preparedness extremely seriously. In 2023, the Paris mayor’s office conducted a 50C crisis planning exercise, which seemed outlandish at the time. Less so now. Two heatwaves before schools have even broken up for the summer, combined with a presidential election in just under a year, has put climate adaptation in the spotlight. Politicians of all stripes are generating a fair amount of hot air themselves.

Marine Le Pen’s National Rally wants better air conditioning for schools and hospitals, an idea her many critics say undermines the responsible energy consumption message, while the Green presidential hopeful, Marine Tondelier, is calling for a five-day heatwave sabbatical to help people cope with extreme heat.

Politicians, as usual, can’t agree on what should happen next, but at least the short-term problem and solutions are clear. This is thanks to France’s highly bureaucratic approach to heatwave planning, in which local authorities make on-the-ground decisions to best protect citizens’ health in consultation with health authorities and weather forecasters.

The four alert levels – red being the highest – were adopted after 2003’s devastating heatwave, which resulted in about 15,000 deaths in France, including many elderly people. Now, each department has a different alert threshold based on data such as average temperatures, preparedness and previous heatwaves. When the mercury rises, local authorities look at factors including expected temperatures, how long the heatwave will last and whether temperatures will drop at night, what major events are planned, and the status of available capacity in hospitals.

All that and more helps to determine which level of alert should be applied and which, if any, restrictions need to be put in place, such as the music festival alcohol ban.

As the heatwave intensifies, so does criticism of the government’s response, fuelled by a spate of drownings and heat-related deaths across the country as well as school closures that highlight how much of the country’s infrastructure needs a revamp. But if the response in 2026 is far from perfect, the actions taken since 2003 do at least mean that decision-makers are better informed.

But with temperatures set to continue rising, the introduction of more tightly regimented plans to monitor and manage extreme heat seems inevitable in other countries, too, even if it’s hard to imagine citizens of somewhere like the UK taking kindly to an outdoor booze ban – let alone one during a festive summer event.

France may not have come up with a perfect solution, but after 2003, it has been better prepared for subsequent heatwaves. And in sweltering 2026, highly visible communication campaigns are raising awareness about heatwave dos and don’ts. “Passons tous en mode canicule”, runs the slogan from the national public health agency – “let’s all switch to heatwave mode”. Unfortunately, in Europe, we don’t have much choice about that – and France’s heatwave management framework may be a good place to start.

Helen Massy-Beresford is a British journalist and editor who lives in Paris

Helen Massy-Beresford is a British journalist and editor who lives in Paris

Africa Front Staff · Jun 24

Africa Front Staff · Jun 24