https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/05/europe-air-conditioning-culture-wars-heat-up
From ‘heat panic’ to ‘sacrificed at the altar’: Europe’s air conditioning culture wars heat up
By Ajit Niranjan
Excerpt:
Europe is reeling from its worst heatwave on record, and as it braces for the next bout of scorching weather, its lack of air conditioning has been criticised more than any other solution that governments have been slow to promote. The emerging culture war has frustrated health experts who want more air conditioning for vulnerable groups but are wary of widespread adoption in private homes.
“Much of Europe’s investment has rightly gone into longer-term solutions like shade, insulation and cooling centres, rather than mechanical cooling,” says Hans Kluge, the head of the World Health Organization’s Europe office, which recommends nuanced adoption of air conditioning that protects those at high risk. “Both have a role.”
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Expert advice to install air conditioning in the places where people need it most – hospitals, care homes, schools, and public transport – enjoys support from across the political spectrum. But in recent days, accusations that mainstream parties are blocking air conditioning to save the environment have come to dominate the debate.
The day after Germany’s heat record was broken, Marc Bernhard, the construction spokesperson for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), said his party would stop people being “sacrificed on the altar” of mainstream climate ideology, such as energy efficiency ratings. “Climate hysteria is leading to more heat-related deaths due to ideological construction errors such as abstaining from air conditioning.”
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The share of households in Italy and Spain with air conditioning has quickly grown to more than half; while in France it has risen to 24%, with up to 48% in hot southern provinces and as little as 10% in cool northern ones.
In Germany, which has some of the lowest air conditioning uptake in Europe, in part due to a high proportion of renters, some homeowners feel even June’s record-breaking heat was not disruptive enough to justify the purchase. “We’d consider getting air conditioning if the summers keep getting hotter, but when it’s just a few days we can bear it,” says Gabriele Werner, who works in the tourist information office of Neuzelle, near where the weekend heat was at its worst.
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“Climate change is just a word that gets trumpeted,” says Reinhard Lange, a retired electrician whose 150-year-old house sits down the road from the weather station in Coschen that provisionally broke Germany’s national heat record on Sunday. “Back when I was a child, it was also warm. It just wasn’t played up.”
