PARIS DEPUTY MAYOR BLASTS AMERICANS MOCKING ITS LACK OF A/C
Paris deputy mayor Audrey Pulvar, who handles the city’s international relations, told American journalists and social media influencers to stop lecturing France about air conditioning during a deadly heat wave. She said they were mocking Paris for not having A/C in every room while the United States, as a top greenhouse gas emitter, shares the blame for the warming behind the heat.
Pulvar, 54, posted the statement on Facebook on June 26, 2026, Asiae reported, citing The Telegraph. It was a response to online jabbing, mostly from Americans in the southern desert regions and tropical parts of the U.S., who claimed people in France and Western Europe could not handle heat they deal with every year.
“Dear American journalists and social media ‘influencers’: for days, some of you have been criticizing and making fun of Paris because the city does not have A/C in every room. OMG, this is so rich!”
That was how she opened, FOX 5 New York reported.
Pulvar argued that air conditioning “contributes and aggravates the problem” of global warming. Then she aimed at the U.S. “As the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, you bear a significant amount of responsibility for global warming and the consequences we, in France, are experiencing,” she wrote.
“Your cities ‘90% air-conditioned’ are not unrelated to this. In Paris, we take responsibility.”
She said the city had spent the past 25 years cutting air pollution, adding greenery, making buildings more energy efficient and reworking transportation, according to The Chosun Daily. She closed with: “So please, enough with the lecture. Just start doing your part. Best regards,”
Portable units sold out across France
The fight came during a punishing stretch. Paris temperatures climbed above 104°F, and at least 48 people in France drowned while trying to cool off outside designated swimming areas, according to FOX 5. The Chosun Daily blamed a northward-moving “Omega heat dome” from the Sahara Desert.
Asiae, citing The Telegraph, said only about one in four French households owned an air conditioner. An Ipsos poll released in June found 78% of French respondents considered air conditioners harmful to the environment, and one in six said they would put up with discomfort for the planet.
Then temperatures above 40°C lingered for roughly ten days. Portable air conditioners sold out at electronics stores nationwide, and videos of shoppers crowding around delivery trucks as units were unloaded spread on social media.
Pulvar was not the only Paris official to push back on A/C. Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire called for flexibility and alternatives such as better insulation, USA Today reported.
“Individual air conditioning is a scourge,” Grégoire said. USA Today also noted that air conditioning is considered an effective way to prevent heat-related deaths, especially among older people and children.
As the weeks passed, attention turned to the human toll. The New York Post reported estimates of roughly 1,000 excess deaths tied to the heat wave, and said the final count could take months to calculate.
By October 15, 2026, International Business Times reported that France was still assessing the damage, with estimates topping 1,300 excess deaths since late June.
A wider picture arrived on October 23, 2026. The National reported that a study of European cities estimated 7,268 heat-related excess deaths in France that summer. NPR reported the same analysis put the total at 50,391 across 854 cities, with 32,619 of those deaths attributed to human-caused climate change.
