June 2026 was the hottest June on record for western Europe and the second warmest globally, according to Copernicus. The three warmest years on record globally were 2024, 2023 and 2025, in that order.
Rising temperatures and heatwaves are pushing more people to use cooling. This is driving up energy demand across Europe. Household energy consumption for cooling in the EU doubled between 2018 and 2024.
So how has energy consumption for cooling been changing across Europe? Which countries saw the highest increases? And in which countries does cooling account for the largest share of energy use?
The amount of household energy consumed for cooling in the EU clearly shows how demand is rising. It increased from 40.5 thousand terajoules (TJ) in 2018 to 80.4 thousand TJ in 2024, an increase of 99%.
In 2010, it stood at just 15.5 thousand TJ, meaning consumption rose by 420% over 14 years.
