PNACC: One year later, housing is still awaiting concrete action

As a heat wave hits the country for several days, the Actibaie Group and IGNES renew their warning about the meager results of the PNACC in implementing the component dedicated to adapting buildings to high temperatures.

There is an urgent need to give visibility to the stakeholders and to commit to the actions of this plan so that summer comfort is no longer the poor relation of our renovation policy.

With each heatwave, the same observation is made: millions of French people live in homes that become uninhabitable for several days in a row. Indoor temperatures exceeding 30°C, shortened nights, massive use of energy-guzzling air conditioners… Yet, the solutions are known, accessible, and, in some cases, inexpensive.

The PNACC has raised hopes that a genuine adaptation policy will be initiated in the short term by identifying relevant and anticipated avenues:

• integrating summer comfort into the MaPrimeRénov' process through a simple action,
• conditioning of financing mechanisms for the energy renovation of social housing on the completion of adaptation works,
• mandatory study of summer comfort as part of a high-performance renovation,
• implementation of a public awareness campaign on summer comfort, …

A year later, these announcements are struggling to translate into action.

The effective integration of the "first steps" of summer comfort such as the installation of external sun protection (shutters, blinds) and air circulators has still not been undertaken.

No figures have been released regarding the number of summer comfort improvements undertaken as part of comprehensive renovations. In the absence of published data, all indications suggest that this proportion remains marginal.

Even more regrettable, although the Government had pledged to bring all stakeholders to the table to work on a relevant and shared "summer comfort" indicator for the DPE, these necessary discussions have still not been organised.

This discrepancy is worrying.

A major health and social issue

Climate change is transforming our relationship with housing. The issue is not only energy-related, but also health-related, social, and territorial. Low-income households, the elderly, and residents of poorly insulated homes or those located in densely populated urban areas are on the front lines.

For the Actibaie Group and IGNES: “We cannot continue to react to weather alerts. Adapting the housing stock must become an operational priority, with measurable objectives and a clear timetable. The solutions exist, the sectors are ready, local authorities are mobilized, and Parliament has taken up the issue in a cross-party manner.”

Therefore, the two organizations reiterate their appeal, made almost two years ago, to public authorities to bring together as soon as possible all stakeholders involved in summer comfort to work on a coordinated action plan for the short and medium term. Waiting for the next heatwave to announce new measures would be a mistake.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.