Air-conditioned Parisian stores will have to close their front doors from Monday, on pain of a fine, in order to reduce their energy consumption, according to a stopped taken, Friday July 22, by the town hall of the capital.
This order provides for a fine of 2e class, for a maximum amount of 150 euros, for commercial or service establishments that leave their doors open when the air conditioning – or heating in winter – is on. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, points out that “This measure had been proposed by the citizens’ convention for the climate and could have been implemented much earlier by a government decree”.
Air-conditioned businesses will now have to keep their doors closed. These aberrant practices must stop in… https://t.co/2xbJymVU8U
Reduce energy consumption
The decree puts forward as motivation “the consequences of global warming in Paris and the urgent need to reduce energy consumption in the current period”. “It has been observed that many shops in Paris permanently keep their front doors open”notes the City of Paris in its decree, which does not concern “Restaurants or drinking establishments with a regularly authorized outdoor terrace”.
Paris is not the first city to want to force air-conditioned businesses to close their doors. On July 15, the socialist town hall of Bourg-en-Bresse had issued a stopped of the same type, presented as a first in France.
The mayor of Lyon, Grégory Doucet (Europe Ecologie-Les Verts), imitated it on Wednesday by signing a stopped prohibiting air-conditioned businesses from leaving their doors open at all times, followed by Besancon two days later.