Fact check: Spain has not barred people from setting air conditioners below 27°C amid heatwave

Viral screenshot is from 2022, when decision was taken to conserve energy amid Russia-Ukraine war

A sweltering heatwave has hit Europe, pushing temperatures to record highs in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. Among the countries worst-hit are France and Spain, where scores of people have died due to intense heat.

The UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell, said the heatwave — made worse by buildings and infrastructure unsuited to such temperatures — “has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it”. He added that until humanity stops burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, the extreme heat will keep getting worse.

For the past few days, a claim has been circulating on social media platform X that Spain has barred citizens from setting air conditioners below 27°C. American entrepreneur and political activist Jeremy Kauffman was among those who shared the claim.

“Sometimes I turn on the AC at night just to use a blanket and fall asleep thinking about Europe,” he wrote in the post. It was accompanied by a screenshot that read “Spain is banning people from setting their air-con below 27°C”. The post was viewed over 800,000 times.

Subsequently, other users also shared the claim, as seen here and here.

What we found

A keyword search conducted to corroborate whether any credible local or international media outlets had reported on the alleged new announcement by Spain did not yield any results.

Instead, it yielded a news report by Time Out, a British media company, dated August 3, 2022. The headline read: “Spain is banning people from setting their air-con below 27°C.”

According to the report, the Spanish government had passed a decree in 2022 that made it illegal in public places to set the air-conditioning below 27°C. The rule was applied to public buildings such as airports, cinemas, bars, rail stations, shopping centres and theatres. While Spaniards were encouraged to follow the same rules at home, the law did not apply to households.

“The Spanish government primarily wants to reduce energy consumption. Like the rest of the EU, Spain has committed to reducing energy consumption by seven per cent and lowering the country’s dependency on Russian oil and gas,” the article added.

The search also yielded an announcement regarding the same on the official website of the president of the Government of Spain and the Council of Ministers dated August 1, 2022.

“The Council of Ministers has approved a Royal Decree-Law on economic sustainability measures, which includes a Shock Plan for Energy Saving and Management in Air Conditioning to reduce energy consumption in administrative buildings, public buildings and shops, and to facilitate compliance with European commitments arising from the conflict in Ukraine,” it read.

The royal decree expired after a year.

In 2022, similar steps were also taken by other European countries: Germany decided to heat public buildings at a maximum of 19 degrees Celsius and switch off lights around monuments, while France warned of fines if air-conditioned shops left their doors open.

All of these measures were taken to conserve energy amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

Even though Spain has not issued any restrictions regarding the use of air conditioners, the claim left several users wondering about the connection between air conditioning and heatwaves.

As per a UN report, air conditioners are increasingly contributing to global warming and by 2050, cooling will account for 10pc of global greenhouse gases. It’s a vicious cycle where heatwaves drive up the demand for air conditioning, and the excessive use of air conditioning units exacerbates the urban heat island effect — when a city experiences much warmer temperatures than nearby rural areas.

“In very dense city spaces, air conditioning … basically transports heat from the buildings to the urban environment and can create an even stronger urban heat island effect,” a CBC News report quoted Hans-Martin Füssel, a climate risk expert at the European Environment Agency, as saying.

Conclusion

The claim that Spain has barred people from setting air conditioners above 27°C is false.

No such order has been issued in the context of the current heatwave that has enveloped Europe. The viral screenshot is from 2022, when the decision was taken to conserve energy amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

This article was published by iVerify Pakistan under its initiative tackling myths and disinformation around climate, supported by Irada and IMS