Key findings
- Survey conducted in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain
- Between 61% and 72% support air conditioning being installed as standard in new homes
- In Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Spain, between 41-48% say that allowing and encouraging more widespread adoption of air conditioning, even if this means more carbon emissions, should be the priority over reducing carbon emissions - 20-33% think the fight against climate change is more important
- Among those who say they don’t want air conditioning in their home, climate change is a relatively uncommon reason for doing so (9-22%), with France the exception (40%)
- 52% of French people were concerned for health of someone in their household during the July heatwave
- While most Italians (63%) and Spaniards (58%) say they have A/C, this falls to 30% in France, 23% in Poland, 16% in Germany and just 11% in Britain
- Cost concerns far outweigh climate change considerations for people who don't have air conditioning
With a series of record-breaking heat waves affecting Europe this summer, the issue of air conditioning has become a hot political topic.
European adoption of air conditioning has been sluggish compared to the US, with regulations in some countries impeding more widespread usage. While some are calling for restrictions to be relaxed in light of the recent high temperatures and the associated heat-related health impact, others have voiced strong opposition, citing the extra carbon emissions that would result.
Now a new YouGov survey examines attitudes towards air conditioning in the six largest European countries: Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain. We find that there is widespread support for making it easier to get air conditioning, and that Europeans prioritise greater uptake to mitigate heat-related health concerns over keeping carbon emissions low.
However, Europeans are split on whether more widespread use of A/C is necessary in order to solve the problems of heatwaves and higher temperatures, and tend more towards thinking that governments should prioritise alternative methods of cooling homes.
We separately examine how widespread the adoption of air conditioning has been in Europe, and the reasons that Europeans give for not having – or not wanting – A/C.
Likewise, we ask Europeans how they handled the summer’s heatwaves, finding that those with air conditioning are far more likely to say they were able to successfully cool their homes to an acceptable temperature.
1. European attitudes to air conditioning and willingness to expand ownership
How do Europeans feel about air conditioning in general?
The relatively low uptake of air conditioning in Europe (in comparison with, for instance, the United States) does not reflect a broad negativity towards the technology, with attitudes generally being positive (46-60%) or at least neutral (31-39%).
The French are the most likely to have a negative opinion of air conditioning, at 20%, compared to 7-13% in the other countries surveyed.
Air conditioning seems to have more negative connotations for those who are concerned about climate change in France than in the other countries surveyed. For instance, 26% of French people who say they are “very worried” about climate change have a negative view of air conditioning, compared to 8-18% elsewhere.
Likewise, 36% of those in France who think air conditioning in every building nationally would have a “very large impact” on the country’s carbon emissions also have a negative opinion of air conditioning, compared to 10-24% in the other five countries.
This increased French negativity towards air conditioning seems to be politicised, with left wing voters taking a notably more negative view.
While negativity towards air conditioning stands at 12% among those who voted for Marine Le Pen in the first round of the 2022 presidential election, and 17% of those who backed Emmanuel Macron, this increases to 34% among those who opted for Jean Luc Mélenchon. This summer, Le Pen has called for "a massive air conditioning plan", in contrast to Mélenchon saying "Air conditioning everywhere means increasing the damage. Go put air conditioning everywhere, you'll see the result. I don't put my kid or my granddaughter or my great-granddaughter in a place where it's air-conditioned from morning to night. It destroys your sinuses".
While our sample size of Mélenchon voters is small (98), examining broader groupings of the far left in France (i.e. adding voters for Fabien Roussel, Philippe Pouto, and Nathalie Arthaud) shows this figure still at 33%, and only marginally lower at 29% if including voters for the left-wing-but-not-far-left Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo.
The next closest groupings are those who backed one of the main left wing parties in Germany – SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, and Die Linke – at 17%, and Macron voters in France (17%).
This is despite voters for left wing parties in France not standing out in their concerns about climate change, compared to their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. While 44-46% of left wing voters in France (depending on which grouping is used) are very worried about climate change, this compares to, for example, 56% of voters for German left wing parties, 55% among Italian liberal/left voters, and 43% for the British left.
Europeans support making it easier for people to get air conditioning
Firm majorities of Europeans support making it easier to get air conditioning. Between 61% and 72% support air conditioning being installed as standard in new homes; 65-75% back making it easier for people to install air con without requiring permission from councils or landlords; and 52-66% support government subsidies for homeowners to get air conditioning installed.
While between 12% and 34% in each country are opposed to these measures for helping widen access to air conditioning, wanting to ban the technology outright is a relatively fringe view, with only 4-11% taking this stance.
Europeans prioritise more widespread adoption of air conditioning over keeping carbon emissions down
While many of the prominent opponents of more widespread air conditioning cite the impact on climate change as a reason why, this proves to be a lower priority for European publics.
In each of Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Spain, between 41-48% say that allowing and encouraging more widespread adoption of air conditioning, even if this means more carbon emissions, should be the priority. Set against this are the 20-33% who think the fight against climate change is more important, even if this means more people suffer harms from heatwaves and high temperatures.
Italians are more divided, with 35% on the more pro-A/C side of the argument while 32% prioritise keeping carbon emissions down.
These attitudes may be partly explained by the perception that air con expansion would make a bigger impact on heat-related harms than it would on their country’s contribution to climate change.
In each country, the number of people thinking that more widespread use of air conditioning would have a “very large” or “fairly large” impact on the number of people who suffer harms as a result of heatwaves and high temperatures (29-61%) is higher than the number who think it would have a very/fairly large impact on the overall size of the impact that their country has on climate change (19-40%).
However, attitudes among Italians to these two questions are noticeably more aligned than in other countries, with only a four point gap between the number who think widespread air con would have a large health impact nationally (44%) and the number who think it would have a large impact on carbon emissions (40%).
Europeans don’t believe that having air conditioning will make people less dedicated to tackling climate change
Some opponents of more widespread air conditioning have cited not only the increased carbon emissions as a climate change impact, but also that being able to keep cool would make people less determined to tackle global warming.
Europeans are sceptical that this would be the case: only between 12% and 24% think that air conditioning would form such a metaphorical cocoon around people. By contrast, 34-53% think it would make little difference either way, while 13-31% think it would make people more dedicated to combating climate change.
Indeed, results elsewhere in the survey seem to bear this out. With the exception of Germany, those who have air conditioning in their home are no less likely to be worried about climate change than those who do not.
While Europeans would support making it easier for people to get air conditioning, they do not necessarily see it as the only means for solving the issues raised by more common heatwaves and rising temperatures.
For example, between 35% and 41% in each country think that the problems associated with people being unable to keep cool during heatwaves can be solved without more widespread adoption of air conditioning. These figures represent either a close split with those who think the opposite in all countries except Poland, where it is much more noticeably the more common view. (Please note that due to a translation error we have removed the French results for this question)
And when asked which the government’s priority should be, in each country more people (27-42%) think that alternative methods of keeping homes cool – such as external shutters, insulation and reflective roofs – should be prioritised higher than air conditioning (12-20%), although a significant number think both should be prioritised equally (27-40%).
2. Why do so few Europeans have air conditioning?
How many Europeans have air conditioning?
At the time of fieldwork, the proportion of people in each country surveyed who said they had air conditioning – either installed or portable – differed dramatically. While most Italians (63%) and Spaniards (58%) said they had A/C, this falls to 30% in France, 23% in Poland, 16% in Germany and just 11% in Britain.
Among those who do not have any form of air conditioning, between 28-40% in each country say they would like to do so, while 41-51% say they would not. When recalculated to represent the entire population of each country – rather than just those who do not have air conditioning – this works out at between 15% and 39% saying they don’t want A/C.
While in Spain and Italy most of those with air conditioning have had it for longer than five years, in the other countries surveyed purchases are more recent. Most Poles and Britons with air conditioning bought it within the last two years, most Germans with aircon did so in the last three years, and most French people within the last five years.
Why don’t Europeans have air conditioning?
Asked why they don’t have air conditioning, the associated costs are the biggest obstacle, with a combined 51-75% in each country citing one or both the cost of buying/installing air con and the cost of the electricity required to run it.
Concerns about the impact on climate change are notably further back, with 27% citing this as a reason in France and 6-17% elsewhere. Indeed, even among those who say they don’t want air conditioning in their home, climate change is still a relatively uncommon reason for doing so (9-22%), with France again the exception (40%).
Others cite logistical obstacles, like a lack of space (13-27%), or because they are not allowed to do so because of local or building rules (7-14%).
For some, noise levels are a concern (2-12%) or health and comfort related impacts like dry air, draughts or irritation (9-21%).
Others still just don’t think they need it, including 33% of Poles and 29% of Spaniards.
3. The experience of the recent heatwaves
How have Europeans kept themselves cool in the summer 2026 heatwaves?
In terms of how Europeans have been keeping cool in the recent heatwaves, air conditioning has been part of the solution for 54% of Italians and 51% of Spaniards, compared to only 26% in France and 10-18% in Britain, Germany and Poland.
Otherwise, Europeans have been keeping blinds or shutters closed (59-82%), using electric fans (49-72%) and opening windows (37-75%).
Europeans with air conditioning are much more likely to say they were able to keep their homes at a comfortable temperature during the European heatwaves
Sizeable numbers of Europeans report not being able to cool their homes to comfortable temperatures during recent heatwaves, ranging from 27-28% in Spain and Italy, where air conditioning is more common, to 41% in France, 43% in Poland, 46% in Britain and 53% in Germany.
The impact of air conditioning is clear to see. While 79-85% of those who have air conditioning in their homes say they were able to keep internal temperatures comfortable during recent heatwaves, this drops to only 35-47% among those without A/C.
Again, comparing the use of air conditioning during the recent heatwaves against other methods shows that the former is far more effective at keeping homes cool. While 79-90% of those who used air conditioning as one of their methods to chill their homes during the recent heatwaves say they were able to bring temperatures down to a comfortable level, this compares to 41-69% of those whose actions taken included keeping blinds or shutters closed, 37-65% of those who used electric fans, and 36-65% of those who opened their windows.
Some Europeans were unable to afford to use their air conditioning as much as they needed to during the 2026 heatwaves
Of course, having air conditioning isn’t as much help as it could be if you can’t afford to adequately use it in your hour of need. Our poll finds that 14-17% of air con owners in Italy, France and Spain were unable to afford to use their air conditioning as much as they needed to during the recent heatwaves, alongside 7-9% in Poland, Britain and Germany.
And for a further 18-38%, while they were able to use their A/C as much as they needed to, they are burdened financially as a result, saying they will now need to make spending sacrifices elsewhere.
Many Europeans were concerned for the health of members of their household during the recent heatwaves
With so many Europeans unable to keep their homes cool, it is no surprise to see that many were concerned for their health, or that of other members of their household, during recent heatwaves, ranging from 30% in Britain to 52% in France.
A note on fieldwork dates
It should be noted that the fieldwork dates in Britain (10-11 August 2026) are notably later than for the other countries surveyed (7-16 July 2026). As they relate to this summer’s heatwaves, this means that the continental countries were surveyed during the early-mid July heatwave, while Britons were surveyed during the subsequent August heatwave.
The British results on people’s experiences during the heatwave may need to be interpreted in light of the later British fieldwork dates, for instance the fact that British people are more likely to have bought air conditioning very recently than other Europeans.
See full results for each country below
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