French government presents new heat wave map and plan to combat climate change

Each year, the heat waves arrive earlier and earlier, are longer and longer, but also and above all, more intense. And the scenario does not seem ready to improve. According to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the frequency of heat waves should still double by 2050.

It is in this context of global warming that the Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu presented, this Thursday, June 8, 2023, a heat wave map to cope with the high heat.

The government’s objective is to prevent, anticipate and raise awareness of the risks of climate change in order to create, according to the ministry, a “collective awareness”. We focus on the outlines of this new plan.

Six actions aimed at the general public

This first axis concerns work that can be carried out, good behavior to adopt in one’s home and prevention. It revolves around several methods.

First the transportswhere messages will be broadcast to inform travelers entering a vigilant area of ​​health risks, forest fires and the right things to do.

More directly, detailed Chrisotphe Béchu, SMS will be sent on the telephones of the inhabitants of a risk zone thanks to FR-Alert. This system allows people to adapt their behavior to protect themselves and others in the face of imminent danger.

We must have a doctrine and guides to accompany this global warming and adapt, by setting a set of rules.

RTE and Enedis will also deploy, from this summer, emergency teams during heat waves and drought to avoid power cuts.

Four actions for young people and vulnerable people

All this prevention work will also pass by young people. “With the SNU and the Post Office, we will try to amplify these instructions”, explained Christophe Béchu. on franceinfo this Thursday morning.

30,000 young people doing their SNU will go door to door and warn of registration in the nominative registers of the municipalities to monitor isolated people.

The Ministry of Solidarity, Autonomy and People with Disabilities “will seize the guardianship judges and legal representatives” in order to “carry out awareness-raising actions”.

The objective is to “encourage curators and guardians to pay particular attention to people benefiting from a measure of protection and who are isolated and to ensure that they are registered in the municipal registers”.

And in schools?

Coast schools, an inspection of the rooms and premises refreshed near colleges and high schools will be carried out every year in each academy. This is to “minimize thermal discomfort in school buildings in hot weather”, especially during exams.

We have set up a green fund which makes it possible to finance measures for planting trees, demineralising schoolyards and combating heat islands.

The Minister does not exclude installation of air conditioning in schools despite its environmental impact: “I’m not ruling anything out. The challenge is the preservation of the most fragile. »

Three actions for workers and companies

How to adapt to heat waves? The question obviously arises in the world of work, where certain occupations are exposed to severe heat. On this point, Christophe Béchu wonders about different tracks.

” Why not changing working hours workers, for example? asked the minister. The only problem is that there are sometimes municipal decrees that prevent making noise very early in the morning and prevent construction sites from starting early.

There are still friction points, but we will work on them to have schedules more adapted to the temperatures.

Furthermore, the transport of live animals “will be prohibited from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. during heat waves published on the Météo France website”.

Two actions dedicated to athletes and spectators of cultural events

These heat waves are not without impacting the sporting and cultural events. From mid-June, the government plans “a census of these events in each department”.

In the event of an announced heat wave, “the organizers of sporting or cultural events, whose activity will have been informed beforehand, will be summoned by the department prefects to adapt their organization and put in place the measures which will have been discussed in upstream “.

If the risk is high, the prefects can decide to cancel or postpone these events.

Water restrictions in 93 departments

While the Minister for Ecological Transition evokes cases of “flash drought” in the north of France, he intends to reveal, next week, “the figures on groundwater”.

In 2022, 93 departments were forced to adopt water restrictions and 75 departments suffered crisis situations.

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