Air conditioning could save lives in NZ as the climate warms, study finds

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-06-02 11:10

New Zealand

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With NZ getting hotter, researchers say air conditioning should be treated as a tool to protect public health. Using computer simulations of houses in Auckland and Christchurch under different future climate scenarios, they found that air conditioning (using heat pumps) reduced hospitalisations and deaths from overheating. However, electricity demand and costs increased, potentially peaking in summer rather than winter, while the costs of cooling put people with lower incomes at higher risk of overheating. The authors say the government should support lower-income communities to access A/C and consider changing building policies so that homes don't overheat.