Matthieu Glachant is a professor of economics at Mines Paris–PSL, specializing in environmental economics, particularly climate change adaptation.
François Lévêque is also a professor of economics at Mines Paris–PSL, focusing on energy-climate issues and competition. He has published several popular science books on these topics.
In Survivre à la chaleur (Surviving the Heat) [i], Matthieu Glachant and François Lévêque explore climate change adaptation and bring together, in an accessible format, the main conclusions from scientific and economic literature. Beyond general reflections on adaptation and its comparison with mitigation, the authors concretely address the needs, possibilities, and impacts of adapting to heatwaves, wildfires, declining mountain snow cover, rising sea levels, and challenges in agriculture. Without attempting an exhaustive evaluation or advocating one-size-fits-all solutions, each chapter refers to key directions in existing public policies and highlights the relevant levels of governance. The authors devote their final chapters to inequality – whether in exposure to climate change, adaptive capacity, or public policy – within countries and between the Global North and South. This jointly authored book thus offers a clear and well-informed overview of the challenges of climate adaptation in France and beyond.
Adaptation: necessary, underway, but in need of organization
Climate change is already having tangible effects. The studies cited in the book make this clear – whether through the increased likelihood of wildfires, reduced snowfall in the mountains, or agricultural yield losses. As a result, spontaneous adaptive behaviors are emerging at the individual level – such as experimenting with new crop species, increased use of fertilizers, purchasing air conditioners or snow machines – and, more rarely, at the collective level, such as building dikes, revising insurance rules, or implementing information systems.
Economic development, especially in the Global South, often represents a spontaneously chosen path of adaptation. Conversely, adaptation itself can create development opportunities. Yet for these efforts to be effective and sustainable, they must be coordinated. The use of air conditioning to combat heatwaves offers a prime example: it can save lives and boost productivity, but also increases greenhouse gas emissions if electricity production remains carbon-based, and exacerbates inequality, as only wealthier individuals can afford the technology. For the authors, public policy must play a coordinating role.
Building public policies for adaptation
Adaptation involves implementing solutions to localized impacts – or at least those that affect communities directly and immediately. In contrast to mitigation, which has only global and long-term effects, adaptation fits more naturally into existing national or local institutional frameworks. Its results can often be felt right away, giving it strong political appeal.
Drawing on numerous case studies, the authors advocate for public adaptation policies that are selective in two ways: first, in the actions they promote – to ensure consistency with mitigation efforts, long-term effectiveness, or to offset free-rider effects – and second, in the populations they support, targeting the most vulnerable rather than merely the most exposed.
In Surviving the Heat, Matthieu Glachant and François Lévêque introduce readers in medias res to the main tools of environmental economics: cost-benefit analysis and its limitations, the monetization of non-market goods and existence values, externalities, and attribution or scenario-based studies. Far from a purely academic approach, the book offers a sector-by-sector and context-specific look at the paths being taken to respond to climate change and its present and future effects, evaluating different adaptation options along the way.
This compelling read underscores the equal importance of adaptation and mitigation – suggesting even that the former may make the latter more acceptable. It highlights the need for their joint discussion, as well as the environmental, economic, and political tensions that arise between them. Finally, it equips readers with up-to-date evaluations of numerous real-world cases, from coastal submersion to wildfires.
Julien Ancel – PhD candidate, CEC
[i] Glachant, M., Lévêque, F., Survivre à la chaleur, Ed. Odile Jacob, January 2025, 240 pp.