France recorded 'hottest summer ever': environment minister

France experienced its hottest summer on record in 2026, marked by heatwaves, drought and massive wildfires, the environment minister said on Thursday.

"We have just lived through the hottest summer ever recorded since measurements began in 1900," Monique Barbut said at a presentation of the summer climate report, which for meteorologists covers June to August.

France joins Belgium and Britain in recording their hottest-ever summers after a season that scorched Europe, the globe's fastest warming continent.

Scientists say that human-made climate change has made extreme weather events more intense and more frequent.

France endured multiple severe heatwaves, including one in late June that set a new intensity record.

Another, stretching from late July into August, matched the record for the country's longest heatwave, lasting 23 days, a mark previously set in 1983.

During this period the country was hit by several major wildfires.

"The summer of 2026 will go down in history," the minister said.

"The question we must now ask ourselves is how it will be remembered ... As the first in a long series of summers that continue to break records. Or as a moment when we rose to the challenge of adaptation and mitigation," by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, she added.