Politics of air conditioning
There is a longstanding political controversy about air conditioning, particularly in the nations of Europe, where the technology is relatively unadopted. The strongest opposition generally originates from environmentalists, European federalists, and left-wing parties, while supporters tend to be from the political right.
Most European governments have not adopted air conditioning, and there is strong opposition in many countries to its adoption, often linked to ideas that it is inherently against the notions of European culture, environmentally unfriendly, and elitist. Opposition, however, has generally softened in recent years.
In the United States, where air conditioning is widely adopted, political energy revolves around inequality in who has access to air conditioning.
By country
Australia
Air conditioning is generally not a substantial issue in Australian politics, as a large majority of citizens have adopted it.France
Air conditioning is rare in France. Support is polarised by ideology, with right-wing parties favouring and left-wing parties opposing its adoption. As of August 2025, the only major party to explicitly support the mass adoption of air conditioning is France's right-wing populist National Rally, with leader Marine Le Pen calling on the nation to have a plan to widely adopt air conditioning in the coming years. Left-wing parties have generally opposed the measures as harmful to the environment and against European culture.United Kingdom
The climate of the United Kingdom is temperate, and the installation rate of home air conditioning systems had historically been low. In June 2025, the director of the Air Conditioning Company in London said that demand for portable air-conditioning units had increasing by 625 percent compared with the previous year. The homeware retail chain Robert Dyas said that from 2019 to 2024, its stores had seen a 4,000 percent increase in the sale of fans and air-conditioning units.Proponents of air conditioning in the United Kingdom include Conservative Member of Parliament Jack Rankin, who said in 2025 that it was "ridiculous that in a country facing record heat, it’s still so hard to install air con at home", and blamed "enviro-loons" and "outdated nanny state rules."
United States
, 88% of US households had some form of air conditioning, with prevalence being highest in the Midwestern and Southern United States. Within metropolitan areas, air conditioning is more prevalent in suburbs than the urban core, even though temperatures in the core tend to be elevated due to the heat island effect.In many parts of the US, state or local laws require landlords to heat rental properties above a specified minimum temperature during winter months; however, relatively few jurisdictions have corresponding laws to cool properties below a maximum temperature during summer months. Moreover, some landlords entirely ban air conditioning from their rental properties, although some municipalities have passed laws to forbid this.