The government must stop putting cooling reforms on ice

This post is by Clare Perry, Climate Campaign Leader at the Environmental Investigation Agency.

While the UK recovers from yet another week of extreme heat, estimated to have resulted in 2,700 deaths since May, there is a distinct lack of joined up strategy in government to mitigate and adapt to a future of dangerous temperatures.

Existing government policies that address overheating, building design, public health and climate adaptation remain fragmented. Responding to a question about the need for a strategy, environment minister Emma Hardy said on 22 June that the government was going to publish a ‘Cooling Outlook’ in 2026. But it is clear that we need more than simply an outlook: we need a plan.

We need a national plan
On 6 July, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) published a briefing calling for a National Cooling Action Plan with an aligned mitigation and adaptation strategy to protect vulnerable communities, while ensuring future heatwaves are not made worse. A holistic approach involves prioritising passive cooling, like building design and urban greening and shading, with active cooling like air conditioning only applied where necessary.

While active cooling will play an important role in protecting health, over reliance on conventional air conditioning risks locking the UK into decades of additional emissions. Emissions from cooling technologies come not only from increased energy consumption but also from the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), synthetic fluorinated chemicals (F-gases) used as refrigerants. HFCs are potent greenhouse gases, and their impact on global warming can be hundreds or thousands of times greater than CO₂ over a 100 year timeframe. Globally, one third of greenhouse gas emissions related to cooling equipment are from F-gases.

The UK’s F-gas Regulation was reviewed in 2022 and for several years we have been eagerly awaiting a government proposal to accelerate the phase out of HFCs. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) consulted on a faster phase out of F-gases in December 2025, stating that reforms were needed to align with international climate obligations. But in May, Defra revealed that it was again putting reforms on ice, delaying action until 2027 or later.

Illegal air con is being sold
Ending our reliance on F-gases is already a possibility. Natural refrigerants are viable alternatives seeing accelerated uptake in European Union, where the F-gas Regulation was updated in 2024 to mandate a complete phase out of HFCs by 2050. Moving towards natural refrigerants also curbs the illegal trade of F-gas refrigerants by reducing the financial incentives that drive the illegal refrigerant trade. An increase in illegal sales of air conditioners was reported in the UK in July, as online marketplaces experienced a 300 per cent increase in requests for cooling equipment, some failed to ensure that F-gas certified technicians would install the technology.

F-gas emissions must be avoided
Numerous benefits would stem from a National Cooling Action Plan. EIA recommends it focuses on five objectives. It should address the equity gap and ensure air conditioning does not drive cooling poverty and urban heat islands. It should avoid active cooling where possible and reduce cooling demand through passive measures. A plan should aim to reduce the impact of air conditioning emissions, including F-gases, where active cooling is needed. The workforce should also be prepared through mandatory training and certification for natural refrigerant technologies, alongside expanded programmes for cooling, heat pumps and passive design. Finally, public awareness should be enhanced, supported by stronger communication of risks and the need to adapt behaviour in extreme heat.

A sustainable cooling pathway is possible. International experience demonstrates that cooling demand can be reduced through passive building design, climate-resilient urban planning, highly efficient equipment and a rapid transition away from F-gases towards natural refrigerant alternatives. These measures can simultaneously improve resilience, reduce emissions, lower energy costs and protect vulnerable citizens. A joined up plan to address this suite of measures is necessary and achievable, and must be actioned urgently.