As Europe’s heatwaves intensify, France bickers about air-conditioning

PARIS – The culture wars have come for air-conditioning, at least in France.

In July, as a

heatwave broiled much of Europe,

feelings about air-conditioning suddenly became a political litmus test.

Ms Marine Le Pen, France’s far-right leader, declared that she would deploy a “major air-conditioning equipment plan” around the country if her nationalist party eventually came to power.

Ms Marine Tondelier, the head of France’s Green party, scoffed at Ms Le Pen’s idea and, instead, suggested solutions to warming temperatures that included “greening” cities and making buildings more energy efficient.

An opinion essay in Le Figaro, a conservative newspaper, defended air-conditioning because “making our fellow citizens sweat limits learning, reduces working hours and clogs up hospitals”.

Liberation, a left-wing daily, countered such arguments, writing that the technology was “an environmental aberration that must be overcome” because it blows hot air onto streets and guzzles up precious energy.

“Is air-conditioning a far-right thing?” one talk show asked provocatively, reflecting how divisive the issue had become.

While France’s heated discussion of air-conditioning cooled along with the temperatures in the weeks that followed, increasingly hot summers in Europe mean that the issue is not going anywhere.

Decades ago, bickering over air-conditioning might have seemed strange in Europe, where there was historically little need for it and where keeping homes warm is still a top concern.

But times are changing fast.

An analysis of daily temperature data from Copernicus, part of the European Union’s space programme, shows that much of Europe is now experiencing longer periods of severe heat than it was just 40 years ago.

So while many derided air-conditioning for years as an unnecessary – and awfully American – amenity, it is now increasingly seen as a necessity to survive scorching summers.

Despite rising temperatures, only about half of homes in Italy today have air-conditioning, according to Italy’s national statistics institute.

In Spain, real estate data indicates the share is roughly 40 per cent. And in France, only an estimated 20 per cent to 25 per cent of households are equipped with air-conditioning, according to the country’s Agency for Ecological Transition.

In 2023, 62.5 per cent of energy consumed by households in the EU was used to heat homes, versus less than 1 per cent to cool them, according to EU statistics.

Energy costs are also usually higher in Europe than in the United States – where almost 90 per cent of homes use some form of air-conditioning. The dense architecture of European cities is ill suited to ungainly air-conditioning units, and in places such as Paris, securing the necessary approvals for old or historical apartment buildings can be complex.

“Air-conditioning still scares some – many still have in mind countries like the United States, where homes and shops are extremely conditioned,” said Mr Baudouin de la Varende, co-founder of Ithaque, a French consulting firm that helps households with energy-efficient renovations. But even he says weatherproofing would help only so much in the coming decades.

“I’m a little saddened that the debate is often boiled down to for or against air-conditioning,” he added. “Most people are in the middle: Air-conditioning is a useful tool.”

Some of the debate is political posturing. Look beyond the sniping on social media, and there is broad agreement in France that air-conditioning is necessary in spaces such as retirement homes, hospitals and schools.

More than 1,800 schools had to close during the worst of July’s heatwave. Few people are clamouring for a cooling unit in every home.

Ms Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France’s environment minister, recently told reporters: “Air-conditioning is not black or white. We need air-conditioning to give vulnerable people some respite. But we mustn’t do it everywhere.”

Much of southern Europe now experiences more than two months each year when daily high temperatures exceed 29.4 deg C. Spain’s capital Madrid has had an average of 63 days above 29.4 deg C in recent years, up from 29 days per year in the early 1980s.

In many places, the heat is not just longer-lasting but also more intense. Forty years ago, temperatures in Madrid rarely climbed above 32 deg C, but in the past five years, a typical summer has included 40 days above 32 deg C.

Whether cultural resistance to air-conditioning in France will persist in such conditions remains to be seen.

Perhaps no one displays that ambivalence better than Mr Christian Meyer, the head of a company near Strasbourg that installs air-conditioning units. Despite having a vested interest in promoting air-conditioning, he was recently quoted in a local newspaper as saying that he was not a fan and that he did not use it himself. “The best air-conditioning is a well-insulated house,” he was quoted as saying.

For now, as the arguments continue, the government’s official heat-related advice takes a middle road of sorts. Air-conditioning is on its list of options to keep a home cool. But the guidelines warn that it is “a solution that should be considered only after all other options have been exhausted”. NYTIMES