London — Many Europeans have long seen air conditioning as an unnecessary, costly, carbon emissions-heavy indulgence. But as the continent’s summers get hotter, claiming more lives as they do, that appears to be changing.Over the last week, 40 people died in France from drowning as they sought relief from extreme heat. In Spain, temperatures hit 111 degrees, and the U.K. is enduring its hottest June on record. Every year, heat claims an average of 175,000 lives across Europe, according to the World Health Organization.Air conditioning can cut heat-related deaths by 75%, according to a 2007 study, and research published by The Lancet found that in 2019, 195,000 heat-related deaths among people over the age of 65 were averted thanks to AC being adopted.AdvertisementAdvertisementBut only about 20% of Europeans have it at home, compared to 90% in the U.S.So, why has it been so slow to catch on?Culture, cost and climateJust as Americans in Europe can’t believe how much they’re sweating as they walk around The Louvre in Paris, European visitors to America often find themselves appalled when — on a sunny day — they have to put on a sweater in a restaurant because the AC is blasting.Part of Europe’s reluctance to install air conditioning may come from historical stoicism — a sense that it has never been there before, so it shouldn’t be needed now. Most of Europe, until the last few decades, really didn’t need air conditioning. In southern countries, many homes were built with thick, white-painted walls, small windows and shutters to keep the sun out and cool air in. In the north, in places like Scandinavia and Britain, summers just weren’t that hot.A technician repairs an air conditioning unit on a restaurant in Ronda, southern Spain, June 21, 2026. / Credit: JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/GettyBut air conditioning is also expensive. The lack of domestic natural gas supplies in many European nations, necessitating imports, makes energy costs higher in Europe than the U.S., according to Eurelectric. Broadly, take-home salaries are also lower.AdvertisementAdvertisementMany Europeans also feel guilt about the climate impacts of air conditioning, which accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gases, according to a 2022 study — double that of the aviation industry, for instance.Now, though, summer in the south is so brutal that centuries of architectural trickery is being outmatched, and in the north, houses designed to retain heat during the winter have become furnaces in sweltering summers.”All sold out”In Italy, thousands of deaths during a 2003 heat wave appear to have been a final straw. That summer, an estimated 10-15% of households had AC units. By 2024, that number had soared to 56%, according …
