Commission needs to act on cooling in Europe
Brussels, BE/July 19, 2026 – As reported by Politico, the European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan will have no new measures to improve the availability of cooling air-conditioning in the EU, despite the increase of heat waves on the continent. CCC’s Senior Policy Analyst Bill Wirtz says that this shows a concerning lack of preparation by Berlaymont:
“One would think that after record-breaking heat in recent weeks and significant amount of deaths related to it that have triggered motions of censure for some governments, that the European Commission would adapt upcoming strategies to the need for AC. However, the Commission, which reportedly selectively air-conditions its own building, probably still considers air-conditioning as a luxury, despite the rest of the world having caught on to the fact that it’s not.
Last month, the Consumer Choice Center published its newest policy paper “Keeping it cool : removing hurdles for air-conditioning availability in Europe” in which we outline how far some government regulation goes to prevent consumers from accessing essential technology.
If this was new technology, one might perhaps understand the hesitancy of the Commission to endorse it. But air-conditioning units have been around since the start of the 20th century. It’s time for Europe to innovate, protect its most vulnerable, and keep it cool”, concludes Wirtz.