Years of skepticism toward air-conditioning in Europe may be giving way as worsening heat waves become harder to dismiss.
With a recent heat wave in France causing roughly 1,000 excess deaths over 10 days, as Le Monde reported, cooling is increasingly being treated as a matter of health rather than simple comfort.
What happened?
As temperatures in and around Paris reached record levels during the latest heat wave, people rushed to buy fans and portable AC units, per Curbed. The frenzy to snag AC units intensified as France dealt with sweltering 104-degree days earlier in June, as reported by the New York Post.
This surge in demand signals a broader change in France, where air-conditioning has traditionally been rare in homes, schools, hospitals, and public transit.
Culture has been a major part of the explanation. Many people in France have long seen AC as wasteful and physically unpleasant because of sudden temperature shifts. Some even saw it as a uniquely American convenience.
Still, as heat waves intensify, those concerns collide with a harsher reality: dangerously hot indoor spaces can turn homes, classrooms, and hospital rooms into serious health risks.
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Why does it matter?
Europe is the fastest-warming continent, and older buildings in cities such as Paris were not designed to handle repeated stretches of extreme heat. Now, many believe that France hasn't adapted quickly enough.
When homes remain dangerously hot, sleep suffers, dehydration risk rises, and elderly residents, children, and people with preexisting health conditions face greater danger. Even basic tasks such as cooking, commuting, or attending school can become physically taxing or dangerous.
The country now faces a dual problem: figuring out how to cool people down while also reducing the pollution that is worsening heat waves in the first place.
One French-born man, Hugo Weber, explained the situation succinctly to Curbed, saying the decision over whether or not to get AC "used to be a lifestyle choice, but today, it's become a means of survival."
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