French government cuts €40 million from school heatwave adaptation plan
POLITICO revealed that the French government removed €40 million from an emergency plan meant to adapt thousands of schools to heatwaves, raising questions about the executive's climate ambitions after the country's hottest summer on record.
POLITICO reported last week that the French government cut €40 million from an emergency plan designed to adapt thousands of schools to cope with heatwaves. The revelation comes just months after France recorded its hottest summer since measurements began.
The funding cut has prompted questions about whether the French executive has lost momentum on climate adaptation policy. The topic was discussed on POLITICO's "Playbook Paris" podcast, where host Anthony Lattier spoke with Aude Le Gentil, a journalist on POLITICO's Energy and Climate desk.
Adapting schools to extreme heat
The emergency plan from which the funds were withdrawn was intended to make schools — which house large numbers of children for much of the year — more resilient to increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves. Such adaptation work typically involves improving building insulation, ventilation and shading.
The cut stands out against the backdrop of a record-breaking hot summer in France, prompting journalists to question whether government policy is keeping pace with the challenges posed by climate change. The podcast discussion examines whether the decision reflects a broader trend of declining priority for ecological issues within the government's agenda.
No official government explanation for the funding cut was included in the available reporting.
