A survey conducted in France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Poland and Germany found that people would prefer wider access to air conditioning over prioritising reductions in CO2 emissions.
The survey was published following four extreme heatwaves that caused more than 25,000 additional deaths across Germany, Italy, Spain and France.
During the heatwaves, between 30% and 52% of respondents said they feared for the health of members of their household, while many said they were unable to keep their homes cool.
Air conditioning use stands at 63% in Italy, 58% in Spain, 30% in France, 23% in Poland, 16% in Germany and 11% in the UK.
Between 65% and 75% supported making it easier to install air conditioning without requiring permission from local authorities or property owners. Meanwhile, 52% to 66% said they would support government subsidies for homeowners to install air conditioning.
Across all six countries, more respondents believed that wider use of air conditioning would have a major or fairly significant impact on reducing the harm caused by heatwaves, ranging from 29% to 61%, than believed it would have a similar impact on their country’s climate performance, ranging from 19% to 40%.
Air conditioning remains far less common in Europe than in the US, despite generally positive attitudes among Europeans towards installing it.
Sources: Guardian, Euractiv
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