Amid record-breaking temperatures, the European Commission has declined to take a stance on the increasingly contentious debate over air conditioning, saying it is not the role of the EU executive to dictate consumers’ choices.
About 20% of European households have AC units installed, compared to 90% or more in the United States, Japan and South Korea.
The glaring lack of cooling systems has become a political lightning rod after a brutal heatwave killed at least 1,300 Europeans and prompted a desperate search for makeshift solutions to make daily life tolerable.
“We know most residential buildings and apartments in the European Union do not have air conditioning. It’s not something that is traditionally in-built, especially given that much of our housing stock is actually quite old and aged,” Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, European Commission spokesperson for climate, said on Monday.
“Whether we have a position on air conditioning, pro or contra, not really, but we do tackle this as one policy area which relates to renovation and energy efficiency of buildings and residential apartments, as well as part of our housing strategy.”
Pressed by Euronews on whether the Commission should take a position given the issue’s growing political significance, the spokesperson said the executive’s priority was to ensure an “efficient and effective” transition to climate neutrality.
The executive, however, left the door open to reviewing its neutral stance if the political context changes.
“This is something that we also need to look at within our competencies: how much is the Commission going to be telling citizens what they must or must not do?” Itkonen said.
“This last week’s inferno was probably just a parting shot for the rest of the summer, so it is not excluded that this also becomes a topic that will be discussed at the political level, and then obviously we will be taking steps as our member states signal,” she went on.
“But ultimately, regarding air conditioning units in private households, these are issues where the Commission is not micromanaging how people should be going about this.”
AC politics
AC systems have been historically contentious among Europeans.
Critics say AC drives up electricity demand, strains power grids, releases hot air into the atmosphere and fails to tackle the underlying causes of the climate crisis.
Advocates, by contrast, say it is an appropriate instrument to ensure liveable conditions and maintain labour productivity amid blazing temperatures.
In France, the far-right National Rally (NR) party, which is leading the polls ahead of next year’s presidential election, has floated a mass subsidised roll-out of AC systems. Even the leader of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, conceded that AC was “becoming” necessary.
Mindful of the ongoing debate, the Commission is treading with palpable caution on the sensitive matter and says the real focus should not be put on the AC systems themselves but on the source that powers them.
In 2025, about 47% of all electricity in the EU camefrom renewables.
The Commission is set to present an Electrification Action Plan next month with new measures to electrify the bloc’s heating and cooling systems.
“Ultimately, these decisions on whether something should be done or should not be done are obviously a question of competency and for member states,” Itkonen said.
The AC debate comes amid a broader rethink of the Green Deal, the all-encompassing set of laws that the EU has rolled out to achieve climate neutrality, the perfect balance between emissions and removal of greenhouse gases, by 2050.
Though the 2050 deadline remains in place, many of the pieces underpinning the transformation have been drastically simplified under intense pressure from governments and industry. The Commission no longer uses the term “Green Deal” in its official communications and instead speaks of “net zero” and “decarbonisation”.