France experienced its hottest summer on record in 2026, the country's environment minister said Thursday. The season, spanning June through August, was marked by severe heat waves, drought, and major wildfires, Environment Minister Monique Barbut said at a presentation of the summer climate report.
"We have just lived through the hottest summer ever recorded since measurements began in 1900," Barbut said. France joined Belgium and Britain in recording their hottest summers on record following a season that scorched Europe, the continent experiencing the fastest warming globally.
The country endured multiple severe heat waves, including one in late June that set a new intensity record. Another heat wave stretched from late July into August, matching the country's longest heat wave duration of 23 days, a record previously set in 1983. Weather service Météo-France reported 53 days of heat wave conditions over the summer, described as "completely unprecedented."
By the end of August, forest fires had burned six times more area than the average of the past 20 years, Barbut said. The heat waves were deadly across Europe, with French authorities recording thousands of excess deaths. In Paris and other areas where few homes have air conditioning, residents used fans and taped foil survival blankets over windows to keep cool, while schools were shuttered and there were rushes on cooling equipment.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tasked Barbut in late July with presenting new measures to speed up implementation of France's national climate change adaptation plan. She promised conclusions "by the end of September," including a five-year funding plan. Barbut acknowledged some "situations for which we could have been better prepared," but said the government would install shutters and air circulators in schools before the next summer.
