Climate Policy

It takes a certain kind of audacity to blame environmentalists for heatwaves and wildfires. Yet, that is precisely the curious accusation spreading through part of public debate, after a summer in which climate change has impacted daily life in France more forcefully than ever before. July 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded since meteorological records began in 1900. After two heatwaves in June, France now faces massive forest fires and a worrying drought.

Criticizing environmentalists is not illegitimate. Some of their leaders have, at times, been dogmatic, underestimated the economic or social constraints implied by certain transitions, and championed solutions of questionable pragmatism. Yet there is something staggering about trying to blame them for the consequences of climate disruption, the dangers of which they have been warning about for decades.

Yet this is exactly the type of trick segments of the right and the far right are trying to play. After having long downplayed the effects of global warming, disputed some of its consequences, or denounced environmentalism as a “punitive” ideology, these same voices are now suddenly embracing climate realism. They now acknowledge climate disruption, since it can no longer be denied. However, rather than examining why the country did not sufficiently cut its greenhouse gas emissions or prepare its infrastructure for the consequences, they prefer to point fingers at those who first warned about the situation.

Political indecency

The maneuver aims to capitalize on French people’s very real anger. How is it acceptable that schools, homes, entire cities, forests, energy and transport infrastructure remain so vulnerable, when their lack of preparedness was foreseeable? The exasperation is justified. But it should be directed at the lack of sufficient collective action, rather than used to rewrite history to benefit those who contributed to delaying the country’s response to climate change.

Above all, we must beware this new form of “realism,” which focuses solely on the consequences. Lamenting wildfires and heatwaves, all while carefully avoiding any discussion of how to mitigate climate change, is like treating a fever without addressing the underlying illness that caused it. Adaptation is essential, but it must not be used as an excuse to abandon efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The longer we delay acting on this front, the more costly, painful or even impossible adaptation will become.

What is most troubling is that the harshest attacks on these lines come precisely from those who, for years, argued that there was no need to disrupt our lifestyles or “make people feel guilty.” Today, they are discovering the damage they once helped to minimize. More than a contradiction, it is a form of political indecency.

The real debate should focus on the decades that have been lost, the investments deferred and the decisions that have been left hanging. Above all, it should center on the dual urgency we now face: adapting France to the climate change that has become an economic, physical and public health reality, all without easing up on mitigation efforts. Singling out environmentalists as scapegoats may fuel anger and frustration, but it does nothing to prepare France for the challenges that lie ahead.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2026/08/05/blaming-environmentalism-is-convenient-for-those-who-failed-to-see-the-climate-crisis-coming_6756180_23.html