European Heatwave Sparks US Questions About Lack of Air Conditioning

Europe is really, really hot right now.

Across much of the continent, temperatures have surged to levels once considered exceptional. France recently saw its hottest day since records began, with highs of 108 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts of the country.

The UK and Spain have also experienced their hottest June days on record. Open a weather map of Europe, and vast swaths of the continent glow deep red, as though a fiery inferno is burning the continent alive.

While temperatures in Europe are not dramatically different from those experienced in many parts of the United States, Australia, or Asia, there is one crucial difference: relief from the heat is far harder to find.

According to the International Energy Agency, only around 20% of European households have air conditioning, compared with roughly 90% in the United States and Japan. During a heat wave, millions of Europeans simply endure the heat rather than relax in the blissful, artificial chill.

For many Americans, this is almost impossible to understand. If you’ve been on social media in recent days, you’ll likely have seen endless posts from US users about Europe’s lack of AC.

Patrick Collison, CEO of payments firm Stripe, garnered 19 million views and thousands of comments on X when he shared a screenshot of Claude’s response to his question about why air conditioning is scarcer in Europe.

Even the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, weighed in, calling Collison’s post a “banger” before describing Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporean leader who insisted on installing air conditioning in the country’s public-sector offices, as a “genius.”

While many on social media can’t get their heads around the relative lack of AC in Europe, some argued that Europeans are just being stubborn.

In reality, the reasons behind this aversion lie in a combination of economics, architecture, history, and perhaps a little stubbornness.

A changing climate

Until recently, much of Europe did not need air conditioning. In large parts of northern Europe, summer was largely confined to July and August, with average temperatures below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Buildings were designed to retain heat through long winters rather than shed it during heatwaves.

The climate is changing rapidly. Last year, the World Meteorological Organization found that Europe is now warming at more than twice the global average, making extreme summer temperatures increasingly routine rather than exceptional.

Adoption of air conditioning continues to lag

Part of the reason for this is cost. According to Bruegel, a European think tank, average EU industrial electricity prices were roughly 2.5 times higher than in the US in 2024.

Running an air conditioning unit through a prolonged heat wave can add a noticeable amount to a household’s energy bill. For many families, suffering through a few weeks of discomfort has historically seemed more rational than investing thousands of euros in a cooling system that might only be needed occasionally.

Retrofitting is another obstacle

US suburbs were largely built during the era of widespread air conditioning, meaning central AC systems could be incorporated into homes from the start. Europe’s housing stock is much older, and millions of people live in homes that were built before AC existed.

Installing modern cooling systems often requires expensive renovations, landlord approval, or compliance with historic preservation rules that restrict building modifications.

Then there is culture

In much of Europe, air conditioning has often been viewed as unnecessary and wasteful. In France, the debate centers on the belief that widespread adoption of air conditioning would only worsen the climate crisis that is causing these heatwaves in the first place.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing political party La France Insoumise, said last Friday, “We must absolutely not install air conditioning everywhere; that would only make things worse.” An IPSOS poll found that 78% of French respondents considered AC to be ‘environmentally unfriendly’.

While Americans tend to treat climate control as an unquestioned feature of modern life, Europeans have traditionally viewed it as something hotels, office buildings, and tourists use.

Whether that attitude survives another decade of record-breaking summers remains to be seen.

The American mind may not be able to comprehend Europe’s aversion to AC, but Europe seems to be discovering that the climate that made that aversion possible is disappearing.