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CLIMATE CRISIS

How Paris plans to keep everyone cool this summer – and beyond

With another long, hot summer predicted, Paris city officials have unveiled their plans to keep the capital cool this summer - from 'cool islands' and water fountains to planting trees and painting roofs white.

How Paris plans to keep everyone cool this summer - and beyond
Summers in the city are going to get hotter. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)

“More access to water, more shade, more coolness” will be the triple-treat in the coming months for anyone in the city, as part of the “Paris s’adapt” plan, unveiled by city hall on Tuesday. 

“Starting this summer, we’ll step up adaptation measures to prepare the city for extreme heat”, Dan Lert, the capital’s deputy mayor in charge of the Ecological Transition, the Climate Plan, Water and Energy. 

According to a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in April, Paris has the highest ‘lethal risk’ of any European city during heatwaves, and is warming twice as fast as the global average.

Last year, excess deaths in the greater Paris Île-de-France region rose 27 percent among over-75s and 13 percent for those aged between 15 and 74 during heatwaves. In addition, there were 2,082 emergency room visits (1,333 of which required hospitalisation) and 285 SOS Médecins interventions.

The city also suffers from the ‘urban heat island’ effect – meaning it is significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas due to human activities – which can push temperatures up an additional 10C during hot periods. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day.

“The summer of 2022, with 22 days of heatwave, was a foretaste of what lies ahead. This will be the norm in Paris in the future,” Lert told Libération

By 2050, the capital’s climate is predicted to be similar to that of Seville, with an average of three weeks of heatwave per year, temperature peaks of 50C and three times as many ‘tropical nights’ – when the temperature doesn’t fall below 20C – compared to today.

This summer, to reinforce an existing network of 1,200 fountains and almost 1,000 “cool islands” (green spaces, air-conditioned public buildings, swimming areas…), 73 “extremely water-efficient” misting fountains, 10 misters and 24 additional shaded areas will be installed. 

An additional 29 so-called “Oasis courtyards” will be created, to complement the 100 already in existence. These areas have more vegetation than other parts of the city, which has “ a significant impact in terms of cooling”. 

The number of cool islands in Paris has increased between five and seven-fold since 2020, according to City Hall.

In 2022, Paris tested six removable wooden shades in the 12th arrondissement. “Below them, we noted a reduction in temperature of almost 10C,” Lert said. “The feedback has been extremely positive, which is why we’re extending the scheme.”

Meanwhile, an experiment of repainting roofs on day nurseries, schools and gymnasiums white – a colour that reflects sunlight – has been deemed a success, reducing temperatures inside by as much as 6C. 

In total, the roofs of another 40 crèches, schools and libraries will be painted white by 2025.

While the capital hasn’t seen any rain for weeks, Lert insisted that “there is no shortage of water in Paris and there won’t be”. But he refused to rule out the possibility of restrictions later in the summer if necessary. 

He said some 800 shopkeepers have pledged to refill water bottles on request free of charge, part of the L’eau de Paris plan which encourages people to ditch plastic bottles of mineral water and drink tap water from refillable bottles.

The city is also aiming to make water savings of 10 percent, and will continue work to limit the leak rate to 8 percent.

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PARIS

Notre-Dame rebuild ‘meeting deadline and budget’

Paris's Notre-Dame Cathedral, ravaged by fire in 2019, is on track to re-open on time on December 8th, the head of the reconstruction said on Wednesday.

Notre-Dame rebuild 'meeting deadline and budget'

“We are meeting deadlines and budget,” Philippe Jost, who heads the public body overseeing the project, told a French Senate committee.

The fire at the UNESCO-listed cathedral, which welcomed 12 million visitors a year, shocked the world on April 15, 2019.

Jost praised the work of the 250 companies and artist groups involved in the reconstruction, which began in spring 2022 after rubble had been cleared and the foundations secured at a cost of €150 million.

He said the budget for the reconstruction phase was expected to stay below the foreseen €550 million, leaving another €150 million unspent from the huge pot of donations that poured in after the fire.

The surplus will go towards “urgent” restoration of the cathedral’s stone exterior to be carried out from 2025, Jost said.

The spire, which dramatically collapsed five years ago, is once again visible on the Paris skyline following the recent removal of its scaffolding.

The installation of the lead roof is ongoing on its solid oak frame, rebuilt with doweled wood and no metal bolts according to techniques dating back hundreds of years.

“The restoration will last for at least 860 years,” said Jost, referring to how long the cathedral had survived from its initial completion in 1163.

In addition to sprinkler systems, each section of the wooden frame has been “compartmentalised” to prevent any future fire from spreading, Jost said.

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