Are you planning your exotic summer vacation yet? Or anxiously thinking about the moment when you’ll have to move your bed to the kitchen floor to keep cool at night?
It is one thing to enjoy a heatwave while lounging by the sea, sipping something cold under a shaded terrace. It is quite another when you are stuck in an overheated apartment, unable to escape the stifling air, dreading the energy bill that comes with switching on a fan or air conditioner. Spring is not there yet, but summer energy poverty is just around the corner.
For years, most Europeans have been lucky to associate summers with long, breezy days, overlooking cooling needs. Meanwhile, energy poverty was framed only as a winter issue, cold homes, high heating bills, people forced to choose between warmth and essentials. But climate change is rewriting the script. European cities are sweltering under relentless heatwaves, and the cracks in our approach to energy poverty are becoming impossible to ignore. We need to rethink how we deal with prolonged heat, not as a seasonal inconvenience but as a systemic issue tied to inequality, housing, urban planning, climate resilience, and public health.
A reality we can’t ignore
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck gettin’ dirty and gritty
Been down, isn’t it a pity?
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people lookin’ half dead
Walkin’ on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
That old song by The Lovin’ Spoonful perfectly sums up what summer in the city feels like for so many people now: hot, relentless, and unforgiving. If you’ve been following my work over the past weeks, you start to get the urgency. In an interview on The Jolt with Sam Morgan, I talked about how cooling needs are often dismissed as a seasonal discomfort rather than the serious public health crisis it is.
But it is, and we’re unprepared.
The numbers are staggering: nearly 19% of EU households report being unable to keep their homes cool in summer (according to data dating back… 2012!). Heatwaves already cause tens of thousands of deaths each year, and as we saw last summer, they are not just hitting the Mediterranean—Berlin, London, Oslo, and Brussels are feeling the heat too. The prolonged exposure to high temperatures in homes that simply aren’t built to cope is a silent killer.
A systemic problem needs a systemic solution: active and passive cooling must work together
Policymakers are still playing catch-up when it comes to summer energy poverty, as I explained in my recent blog post for Energy in Demand.
We also touched on this in my conversation with Sam Morgan, where I explained why we need to stop thinking in silos. Cooling isn’t just about energy; it’s about urban planning, public health, and climate adaptation. That is why we need to combine active cooling (like air conditioning) with passive cooling (like green spaces, ventilation, and reflective surfaces). One without the other is inefficient, costly, and unsustainable. I highlighted how cities with green spaces and better infrastructure experience lower temperatures, reducing reliance on energy-intensive air conditioning. But to make meaningful change, policymakers need to connect these dots and act before the crisis deepens. I broke down why cooling isn’t just about air conditioning, but about the way we design our cities and policies.
What’s being done, and what needs to change
The good news? There are solutions. Cities like Paris and Athens are integrating cooling into their climate adaptation strategies, expanding green infrastructure, and developing urban cooling networks. Barcelona is expanding its urban cooling network, prioritising vulnerable neighbourhoods with shaded public spaces and misting systems. Vienna has introduced cooling streets, while Amsterdam is integrating blue-green roofs in social housing to lower indoor temperatures. In Paris, the ‘Oasis’ schoolyard initiative transforms playgrounds into green, heat-resilient spaces, offering relief to students and nearby residents. Meanwhile, Athens has appointed a Chief Heat Officer to implement long-term urban heat strategies and emergency response plans. These cities recognize that mitigating urban heat is not just about air conditioning but about designing spaces that naturally reduce temperatures and protect vulnerable residents. The European Commission has even released a report on this very issue—one that I authored—signalling that the conversation is finally shifting.
“We can actually do and achieve a lot on this summer energy poverty front, on this cooling front, when we do not think only in silos but really address climate, energy poverty and energy policies together,”
The bad news? These efforts are still fragmented. Policies addressing summer energy poverty exist, but they are scattered across different areas—energy efficiency, housing, urban planning, climate adaptation, and social justice.
The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) now recognises cooling as an essential energy service, but implementation varies across member states. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) sets new overheating standards, yet many older buildings remain unfit for extreme heat. The Social Climate Fund (SCF) aims to support vulnerable households, but access to funding is uneven. The EU Climate Adaptation Strategy encourages urban greening and cooling, but lacks binding obligations. Meanwhile, national energy and climate plans rarely prioritise cooling, leaving a significant gap in protection for those most at risk.
Without a coordinated, cross-sector approach, cooling remains an afterthought rather than a fundamental right. Funding exists, but the challenge is ensuring it reaches those who need it most. A systemic response is overdue.
Just resilience: a fair approach to staying cool
Extreme heat is not a weather event—it is a justice issue. That is why I believe we need to the bring concept of Just Resilience to the mainstream. It is not enough to design cooling strategies; we need to make sure they reach the right people. That means prioritising vulnerable households’ housing upgrades, ensuring energy pricing does not penalise those who need cooling the most, bolstering demand-side flexibility and improving the cities so they do not become urban ovens.
Turning policy into action: let’s work together
As you check your travel options for the summer, thinking about where to escape the heat, consider this: how could your home and your city become more resilient and comfortable when it’s warm outside? And while you do, remember that for many people around you, there is no escape. Whether you are planning year-round energy retrofitting, a beach getaway or a city break, the reality of summer energy poverty remains. In the meantime, let’s stop pretending summer is just about holidays and barbecues. For too many, it is about survival.
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If your organisation needs to understand, mitigate, or plan for extreme heat challenges and solutions, let’s work together—through targeted studies, workshops, or training that equip you with the tools to lead on this critical issue. Over the past 15 years, I have been helping organisations, policymakers, and industry leaders navigate the complexities of consumer rights and policies, winter and summer energy poverty, turning research into actionable strategies that deliver real impact.
Beyond this, let’s demand better. Because the heat is on, and we cannot afford to look away.
