re: Europe is experiencing a heat wave. Still has not widely adopted A/C

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Europe has pledged to become “climate neutral” by 2050 and a sharp increase in air conditioners will make climate commitments even harder to reach.

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The continent faces a dilemma: embrace energy-intensive air conditioning, with the negative climate impacts it brings, or find alternative ways to cope with its ever-hotter future.

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the “so-called French elites” who encourage others to seek alternative cooling methods while they “obviously enjoy air-conditioned cars and offices.”

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Using fossil fuel-powered AC increases planet-heating pollution, which in turn increases temperatures, fueling “a vicious cycle of worsening climate change,” said Radhika Khosla, an associate professor at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford.

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The challenge will be making sure countries have strong regulations around the efficiency of cooling systems to reduce their potentially huge climate impact. “Because every air conditioner sold today locks in energy use and emissions for the next decade or two decades. So it’s important we get this right first time.”

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