July 1, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French.
An intense heatwave is sweeping across the country, and Météo France (Weather Forecasts France) has placed most districts on alert, with temperatures expected to exceed 40°C (104° Fahrenheit). The climate emergency is once again reminding us of the violent inequalities that plague capitalist society.
The rich are destroying the planet
Climate change is not just a figment of our imagination: it can be precisely measured. In France, for example, global warming has reached 2.2°C over the last ten years. This rise in temperatures is accompanied by increasingly extreme phenomena such as droughts and floods. The poorest populations are the most vulnerable to these disasters because they have no means of coping with them. While 2024 is the hottest year on record, the only concern of world leaders is to maintain business as usual. Trump’s return to power in the United States sets the tone: even “greenwashing,” the misleading practice of painting oneself green, seems out of fashion. With his slogan “Drill baby, drill!” it’s exploitation and business first.
But the French government and all European countries are also rushing down this path. In France, in the midst of a heatwave, MPs (Members of Parliament) voted to postpone the development of renewable energies indefinitely. There’s certainly air conditioning in Parliament! Similarly, they are preparing to vote on the Duplomb law, which aims to facilitate the expansion of industrial livestock farming, increase the number of mega-basins (large reservoirs that provide water for big agricultural companies at the expense of small farmers), reauthorize dangerous insecticides, and so on. At the European level, France is calling into question the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 90% by 2040. It will undoubtedly win the day, since the new priority of European governments seems to be increasing military spending at the expense of everything else.
It’s too hot to work…
Recently, [President] Macron’s government suspended subsidies for major renovations under the MaPrimeRénov’ (home energy subsidies) scheme, even though many homes remain energy inefficient, particularly in social housing. According to the Fondation pour le Logement (Foundation for Housing, formerly the Fondation Abbé-Pierre), 37% of low-income households report suffering from heat in their homes, compared to 20% of more affluent households. After spending sleepless nights, people still have to go to work: despite an excessive heat warning, which indicates a high potential danger, the economy is expected to continue as if nothing were happening. That is why Borne, the Minister of Education, announced that schools would remain open. Even though school buildings are completely unsuitable, children must be kept in school so their parents can go to work—in conditions that are also completely unsuitable.
Last summer, seven fatal accidents at work were recognized as heat-related. Between 2018 and 2023, at least 48 workers died from heat-related accidents, a figure that is probably underestimated, according to the French Public Health Agency. Construction sites and agricultural work are among the sectors particularly at risk. A decree comes into force on July 1st to clarify employers’ obligations in terms of risk prevention during periods of intense heat: flexible working hours, access to fresh water, premises maintained at a suitable temperature, etc. Everything remains very vague—especially what temperatures are considered extreme heat! We are expected to resign ourselves to living in heat traps and working at all costs in sweltering conditions. But we should not stand for this! It is up to us to ensure that our rights are respected so that we are not put in danger—and the more collectively we do this, the better. Until we dismantle capitalism.
