By
June 25, 2026 / 11:11 AM EDT
/ CBS News
Add CBS News on Google
London — Many Europeans have long seen air conditioning as an unnecessary, costly, carbon emissions-heavy indulgence. But as the continent's summers get hotter, claiming more lives as they do, that appears to be changing.Over the last week, 40 people died in France from drowning as they sought relief from extreme heat. In Spain, temperatures hit 111 degrees, and the U.K. is enduring its hottest June on record. Every year, heat claims an average of 175,000 lives across Europe, according to the World Health Organization.Air conditioning can cut heat-related deaths by 75%, according to a 2007 study, and research published by The Lancet found that in 2019, 195,000 heat-related deaths among people over the age of 65 were averted thanks to AC being adopted. But only about 20% of Europeans have it at home, compared to 90% in the U.S. So, why has it been so slow to catch on?Culture, cost and climateJust as Americans in Europe can't believe how much they're sweating as they walk around The Louvre in Paris, European visitors to America often find themselves appalled when — on a sunny day — they have to put on a sweater in a restaurant because the AC is blasting.Part of Europe's reluctance to install air conditioning may come from historical stoicism — a sense that it has never been there before, so it shouldn't be needed now.
