Perrine Mouterde

In an interview with Le Monde, researcher Julien Ruffault argues that land-use policies are crucial to adapting to fire seasons that are becoming more intense, longer and more extreme as a result of global warming.

Over the past decade, mortality has increased by around 9% for beech and pedunculate oak, by more than 6% for chestnut and by 5.2% for Scots pine. Repeated departures from typical climate conditions have played a major role in the widespread tree die-off observed across France.

The ecological consequences of wildfires are difficult to quantify and vary due to many factors. What is certain is that the intensity and frequency of fires can be especially damaging to ecosystems.

A campaign launched at the start of summer 2026 by the NGOs behind 'L'affaire du siècle' aims to make the effects of global warming on the French population visible.

While the exact volume of rock and ice that broke away in the Himalayas has yet to be measured, this catastrophe is already of exceptional magnitude, explains glaciologist Adrien Gilbert in an interview with Le Monde.

Heatwaves, wildfires and droughts, all intensified by climate change, do not lead to shifts in public attitudes without strong political will. Still, a sense of a need for protection and concrete measures is emerging.

After an unprecedented series of heatwaves over the summer, temperatures could once again reach at least 35°C in some areas of the country.

The EU's Copernicus Earth observation service reported that more than 1.5 million metric tons of carbon were released, a figure not seen since 2003. This comes at a time when France must speed up cutting its greenhouse gas emissions while its forest carbon sink shrinks.

The United Nations Environment Programme has acknowledged the world is set to exceed the most ambitious target of the Paris Agreement and outlined a new trajectory to bring temperatures back below that threshold before the century's end. Doing so would require enormous efforts and radical transformations.

Such a summer, which today has a one in 100 chance of occurring, would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.