Some 120,000 people took to the streets on Saturday, September 26, 2026, in 260 cities and villages across France, calling for urgent action on climate, biodiversity, peace and social justice. After a summer of deadly heatwaves, devastating wildfires that forced 250,000 people from their homes, and severe droughts that wiped out harvests, the government’s response has fallen far short.
Saturday’s mobilisation sent a clear message to French decision-makers: investing in adaptation and ending our toxic dependence on fossil fuels can no longer be an afterthought. They must be front and centre in the 2027 national budget and the 2027 presidential campaign.
8,000 participants at the rally to protect the climate, biodiversity, peace and social justice, held at the Place de la République in Paris on September 26, 2026. Photo credit: Ange_V
The spark came at the height of summer. Confronted with the scale of climate impacts unfolding across France, and in their own lives, a group of activists launched a call to action that has since been signed by more than 55,000 people, including representatives from 1,200 organisations, from local groups to national networks including 350.org.
Firefighters, parents, tenants and farmers also joined the mobilisation through the “On veut vivre!” (We want to live!) call to action. Rallying around this heartfelt cry, 8,000 people gathered at Place de la République in Paris holding up emergency blankets, which have become the symbol of France’s record-breaking summer. Designed to keep people warm in a crisis, these foil sheets were instead taped to windows across the country this summer in a desperate attempt to keep the heat out of homes.
From cuts to a real plan to protect people, now and tomorrow
French people are not fooled: behind the rhetoric, the state is not making climate action a priority. While the government had already cut the Green Fund, which helps local authorities fund climate mitigation and adaptation projects, to a third of its size in just three years, it slashed it by a further 20% in the wake of this summer’s heatwaves. Similarly, the government has recently backtracked on funding to renovate schools before summer 2027. Now it has made its intentions clear: it wants €54 billion in savings in the 2027 budget and is considering cutting the budget of ADEME, France’s ecological transition agency, by more than 30%.
To turn the tide, the September 26 movement urges the government to implement three complementary plans to advance both climate and social justice:
An emergency plan to protect people now from extreme heat and weather: accessible cool spaces, protection for vulnerable people and workers, stronger emergency services, and heat-proofing hospitals, care homes and shelters.
A national adaptation plan to help communities cope with climate change in the long term: more resources for local authorities, better insulation of housing, protection of forests and soils, and safeguarding water as a common good.
A mitigation plan to tackle the root causes of climate change: ending our dependence on oil and gas, ending subsidies to fossil fuel companies, expanding affordable public transport and investing heavily in renewable energy.
Time to make big polluters pay
The September 26 mobilisation calls on the government to end its hypocrisy. Public finances may be under strain but there are concrete ways to raise the money needed. The cost of the transition and adaptation must not fall primarily on those least able to bear it. It is time to tax the obscene profits of fossil fuel companies such as TotalEnergies, which cashed in $11 billion in profits in the first six months of the year alone. The movement also urges the government to make billionaires contribute through a dedicated climate levy, and to tax the profits of the arms industry
Fanny Petitbon, France Manager for 350.org, said: “This summer, France was on fire. Today, it was in the streets. Tenants in homes turned into ovens, parents fearing for their children, workers and unions fighting for safe conditions, farmers watching their harvests burn: we’re all facing the same crisis, and today we stood together. We refuse to let political leaders forget. Instead of making big polluters pay, the government rolls out the red carpet for them.
“That’s not leadership, it’s cowardice. As the 2027 budget negotiations are about to start and the presidential race heats up, our message is simple: we won’t back down, and climate action will not be sidelined. It is time to tax those who fuel the climate, energy and social crises and get rich, while we suffer.”
