The boss of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier proposed on Friday the creation of paid climate leave of five days per year, inspired by that put in place by Spain and intended to deal with restrictive climatic events, such as extreme heat.

Published on: 01/05/2026 - 09:33 Modified on: 01/05/2026 - 10:31

Being able to face "an extreme heatwave or a fire" without "being penalized": the boss of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, proposed on Friday May 1 the establishment of paid climate leave of five days per year, inspired by Spain and intended to deal with restrictive climatic events, such as extreme heat.

“Sometimes, there are workers who cannot work for climatic reasons. There are four out of ten people in this country who are exposed to very high heat during the year,” she explained on Sud Radio.

"Today, there is a somewhat vague decree in France which does not even give a threshold of degrees from which we stop. And above all, people can withdraw or a company can close, but it is not really in paid leave. So it is in fact done on the backs of the workers", she continued.

See also Who bears the cost of global warming?

On her blog, the boss of the Ecologists, a declared candidate for the 2027 presidential election in France as part of a hypothetical unitary primary of the left, developed: it would be a "right to allow those who cannot telework not to go to work while being compensated when public authorities recommend or impose restrictions linked to a climatic event".

“We left for five days, but to discuss”

“If your transport is blocked by a flood, if your children's school is closed because of a weather alert, if your territory is affected by an extreme heatwave or a fire, you must be able to cope without being penalized,” she continued.

Marine Tondelier said she was inspired by the Spanish model for this proposal. In 2024, after floods that killed 230 people in the southeast of the country, Spain's left-wing government approved a four-day state-paid climate holiday to avoid travel in the event of a weather risk alert.

"In Spain, it's four days. We left for five days, but to discuss it, we are discussing it with the employers' unions and employee representatives," she added.

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With AFP

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