People centric policy is needed to create a clean cooling pathway for UK homes

As the climate continues to warm, overheating is becoming increasingly common, creating a range of heat-health issues, and leading to a growing demand for space cooling. How that cooling is provided is important, as there are passive and low impact options available, as well as more environmentally damaging active cooling. Without policy intervention, air conditioning (a form of active cooling) could easily become the default solution for cooling homes, locking-in direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, creating wider impacts for energy systems and equity, and risking air conditioning becoming a new social norm. To avoid this, policy makers need to act with urgency to drive low-carbon cooling whilst also creating the right conditions to support people to take sustainable and climate resilient behaviours. These issues should not be left solely to the market; rather policymakers need to develop a comprehensive, integrated approach to people and cooling. To support this, we provide insights from an avoid-improve-shift cooling decarbonisation framework, alongside an approach to behavioural and societal change that supports individuals whilst also shaping the wider environment in which decisions are made. Whilst focussed on the UK, the insights will be of relevance to other temperate countries dealing with the growing challenges of heat resilience and cooling decarbonisation. • Rising temperatures are leading to increased levels of overheating within homes. • Active cooling can result in emissions and impacts for energy systems and equity. • Policymakers need to develop effective strategies to manage overheating. • Behavioural and societal change are central to shaping cooling pathways in homes. • A people-centric policy approach is key to reducing heat risks and decarbonising cooling.