Workers install an air conditioning unit in a French home during a heat wave. [AFP]
Workers install an air conditioning unit in a French home during a heat wave. [AFP]

Paris Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar has pushed back sharply against American criticism of France's limited air conditioning, citing the United States' role in greenhouse gas emissions.

Pulvar, who oversees international relations for the city, posted a message on Instagram three days before Sunday, addressing what she called relentless mockery from American journalists and social media influencers. "For several days now, you have been criticizing and ridiculing Paris for not having air conditioning in every room," she wrote. "I find this absolutely outrageous," she added, according to the New York Post and other foreign media.

She then turned the criticism back on the United States. "As the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, you bear significant responsibility for global warming and the consequences France is experiencing," she wrote. "Your cities, 90 percent covered in air conditioning, are not unrelated to this." She closed the post with a blunt instruction: "So stop lecturing us and do your part."

People cool off in the water amid a heat wave in France. [Reuters]
People cool off in the water amid a heat wave in France. [Reuters]

The exchange was sparked by American tourists ridiculing France for its lack of air conditioning during a heat wave that has pushed temperatures to around 40 degrees Celsius.

France has a notably low rate of residential air conditioning compared with other European countries and major developed nations — only about 25 percent of homes have units installed. Older buildings and apartment complexes, which are common across the country, are frequently cited as a key obstacle to wider adoption.

Meanwhile, France's public health agency warned that excess deaths since June 21 have reached at least 1,300, with the final toll expected to rise. Most of the victims have been elderly.

World Weather Attribution, a Europe-based scientific collaboration, said in a report released Saturday that the current heat wave could not have occurred without climate change. The event is considered to surpass the severity of the 2003 heat wave, which killed 15,000 people.


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