102 UK Air Conditioning Statistics for 2026

Today

• In England, 4.3% of households reported using air conditioning to keep cool in summer in 2023-24, about 1.06 million homes. This counts households in England that said they use air conditioning to keep cool in summer, so it measures reported use rather than ownership and does not separate portable from fixed units. (University of Reading, June 2026)
• An Opinium survey for Uswitch estimated that 4,018,808 UK households had air conditioning in 2025. Respondents were individuals asked which items they have, and Uswitch scaled the percentages to 28.4 million UK households, so the figure measures ownership, portable units included, rather than use. (Uswitch / Opinium, April 2026)
• Uswitch's 2025 survey estimated that 2,163,984 UK households had a portable air conditioning unit and 1,854,824 had a built-in system. Both counts are self-reported answers scaled to all UK households, and the release does not say how many homes have both types. (Uswitch / Opinium, April 2026)
• NESO estimates that air conditioning is currently used in 3% of homes, equating to 0.3 TWh of electricity demand. This is a modelling assumption for Great Britain's energy system rather than a result from a household survey, and the report does not state how it was derived. (NESO, November 2025)
• Of households in England whose home got uncomfortably hot in 2024-25, 7% switched on air conditioning to keep cool, while 59% used a fan. The survey itself notes that reporting use of an air conditioner is not the same as having an air conditioning unit. (English Housing Survey, July 2026)
• England has some of the oldest housing stock in Europe, with around 8.9 million dwellings built before 1945. This describes the age of the housing stock and does not measure air conditioning directly. (English Housing Survey, July 2025)

Over time

• In 2011, less than 3% of households in England, approximately 600,000, used fixed or portable air conditioning, with portable units (2.0%) more common than fixed systems (0.8%). The fixed system share rests on 17 survey responses, which the report flags as subject to large sampling error. (DECC, Energy Follow-Up Survey, December 2013)
• In 2017, 2% of households in England reported using a fixed or portable air conditioning unit. The survey covers England only and its data were collected four years before publication. (BEIS, Energy Follow Up Survey, September 2021)
• A study for BEIS estimated that around 83,000 additional UK homes are equipped with cooling each year. This is an assumed growth rate applied to all homes rather than a count of installations, and the report says a large proportion of these installs are likely to be portable units. (BEIS, Cooling in the UK, August 2021)

By 2050

• NESO's Future Energy Scenarios 2025 assume that between 10% and 40% of homes will have air conditioning by 2050, depending on the pathway. These are scenario inputs for Great Britain, with the top of the range coming from NESO's Falling Behind pathway, so they describe possible futures rather than a single forecast. (NESO, November 2025)
• UKERC-funded modelling found that between 5% and 32% of English households could adopt air conditioning by 2050. The range covers England only and comes from scenario modelling published in 2020, before the survey figures now available. (UKERC, October 2020)

By region and income

• London and the East of England had the highest air conditioning use of any English region in 2023-24, at 6.5% of homes each, while the North East had the lowest at 1.5%. These are descriptive regional shares for England only that do not adjust for differences in income or housing between regions. (University of Reading, June 2026)
• Among the highest-earning fifth of households in England, 8.2% used air conditioning in 2023-24, compared with 2.5% of the lowest-earning fifth. Income is grouped into fifths of household income across England, and these shares are not adjusted for other household factors. (University of Reading, June 2026)

By household

• In 2023-24, 3.0% of homes in England with someone over 75 used air conditioning, compared with 4.6% of homes where nobody is that age. The comparison is between homes with and without a resident over 75, not by the age of the person who answered the survey. (University of Reading, June 2026)
• Single parent families in England had the lowest air conditioning use of any household type in 2023-24, at 2.9%. Household type follows the English Housing Survey classification, and the figure is not adjusted for income. (University of Reading, June 2026)
• Households in England with someone working from home at least two days a week had 42% higher odds of using air conditioning in 2023-24. This is an adjusted odds ratio from the study's regression model, which holds other household factors constant, so it is not a direct comparison of the share of homes using air conditioning. (University of Reading, June 2026)

By home type and tenure

• Detached houses and bungalows in England had the highest air conditioning use of any dwelling type in 2023-24, at 6.2%. Semi-detached homes, terraces and flats all reported lower use in the same study, and the figure is not adjusted for household income. (University of Reading, June 2026)
• Homes in England built since 2000 had higher air conditioning use than older homes in 2023-24, at 6.6%. The study groups these as modern 21st-century homes, and the share is not adjusted for household income. (University of Reading, June 2026)
• In 2023-24, 3.7% of households living in flats in England used air conditioning. Flats reported use close to terraced and semi-detached homes and below detached houses and bungalows in the same study. (University of Reading, June 2026)
• In 2023-24, 5.0% of owner-occupier households in England used air conditioning, compared with 3.3% of private renters. These are descriptive shares for all households, and social renters reported lower use than private renters in the same study. (University of Reading, June 2026)
• Among households in England that reported overheating in 2024-25, owner occupiers (9%) were more likely than private renters (4%) to switch on an air conditioner. This compares only households that reported their home getting uncomfortably hot, not all households. (English Housing Survey, July 2026)

Homes reported as overheating

• In England, the share of occupied homes where households reported overheating rose from 7% in 2019 to 12% in 2024. This is a self-reported measure of homes that got uncomfortably hot and could not be cooled, so it tracks how households perceive heat indoors rather than measured temperatures, and it covers England only. (English Housing Survey, July 2026)
• Approximately 3 million homes in England were reported as overheating in 2024, with owner-occupied homes (13%) more affected than private rented (11%) and social rented homes (11%). The count covers occupied homes where the household reported overheating, so empty homes and homes that are hot but not reported as such are not included. (English Housing Survey, July 2026)
• In England in 2024, detached houses (15%) and bungalows (14%) were the homes most likely to be reported as uncomfortably hot, compared with 9% to 10% of purpose-built flats. EHS notes these measures are subjective and may reflect household circumstances and preferences as well as the building, so dwelling-type gaps are not a direct measure of which homes run hottest indoors. (English Housing Survey, July 2026)

Modelled overheating

• The Climate Change Committee says that, without additional adaptation, 92% of existing UK homes would overheat by 2050 under 2°C of global warming. This is a modelled projection that tests representative home types against a design-standard overheating criterion and assumes no additional adaptation such as shading, ventilation upgrades or cooling. (Climate Change Committee, May 2026)
• Under 2°C of global warming, around 22% of the UK's housing stock would need active cooling, such as air conditioning, to cope with overheating, according to the Climate Change Committee. The share describes homes where the modelled passive measures such as shading and window upgrades were not enough, so it indicates need for active cooling rather than a forecast of installations. (Climate Change Committee, May 2026)
• Modelling for the Climate Change Committee found that homes representing around 55% of the UK housing stock, or 15.7 million homes, fail the bedroom overheating criterion in current weather. This is a modelled pass or fail against a night-time bedroom standard written for new homes, not a measurement of temperatures in occupied bedrooms. (Arup for the Climate Change Committee, October 2022)

New-build rules

• Approved Document O, the overheating standard for new residential buildings in England, took effect on 15 June 2022 and requires them to limit unwanted solar gains in summer and provide an adequate means to remove heat. Part O covers new dwellings, care homes and student accommodation only, so the existing homes that make up most of the stock are outside its scope. (MHCLG, Approved Document O, December 2021)
• Approved Document O treats bedroom windows as likely to be closed during sleeping hours if noise in the bedroom exceeds 40dB LAeq averaged over 8 hours between 11pm and 7am. Where the noise limit is exceeded, the overheating strategy cannot rely on open windows at night and has to be tested by dynamic thermal modelling instead of the simplified method. (MHCLG, Approved Document O, December 2021)

Schools and hospitals

• The Department for Education estimates that indoor temperatures in some schools in England could reach or exceed 35°C on an average of 2.9 days a year by 2050 under 2°C of warming, up from 1.7 days today. These are indicative modelled averages for some teaching spaces with no adaptation, and DfE describes the evidence as emerging. (Department for Education, June 2025)
• NHS England reported a 53% rise in overheating incidents in health services that triggered a risk assessment between 2016/17 and 2023/24, with a peak in 2022/23. The figure is a provisional change in incidents logged by NHS trusts in their estates return, not a count of wards or patients affected. (NHS England, March 2025)

Heat deaths each summer

• Summer 2022 saw an estimated 2,985 all-cause excess deaths in England across five heat episodes, the highest annual total UKHSA has recorded. This is an England-only estimate of deaths above a local baseline during defined heat episodes, which is why it differs from ONS and CCC figures for the same summer that use other methods and geographies. (UKHSA, April 2025)
• UKHSA's interim estimate is that 2,877 heat-associated deaths occurred in England during the May and June 2026 heat episodes, 753 in May and 2,124 in June. This is a provisional estimate that excludes the July 2026 heatwave, and UKHSA expects the final 2026 total, due in early 2027, to be substantially higher. (UKHSA, July 2026)
• An estimated 1,504 heat-associated deaths occurred in England during five heat episodes in summer 2025, 1,535 fewer than UKHSA's model predicted from the temperatures. From 2025 UKHSA defines a heat episode purely by a mean Central England Temperature threshold, a change from earlier years that also took heat-health alerts into account. (UKHSA, April 2026)
• An estimated 1,311 heat-associated deaths occurred in England during four heat episodes in summer 2024, when only yellow heat-health alerts were issued. This was the first year published as official statistics, with breakdowns by place of death, cause of death and local resilience forum added for the first time. (UKHSA, April 2025)
• In England, an estimated 2,295 heat-associated deaths occurred across five heat periods in summer 2023. Heat-associated deaths are the difference between deaths during heat periods and a baseline built from non-heat days either side, so the estimate carries a wide confidence interval. (UKHSA, April 2025)
• In England, an estimated 1,634 all-cause excess deaths were associated with two heatwave episodes in summer 2021, 1,470 of them among people aged 65 and over. Excess deaths are measured against a baseline of nearby non-heatwave days with COVID-19 deaths removed, so they capture short-term mortality during heat rather than every death linked to heat across the year. (UKHSA, April 2025)
• In England, an estimated 2,556 all-cause excess deaths were associated with three heatwave episodes in summer 2020. The estimate compares deaths on heatwave days with nearby non-heatwave days after removing COVID-19 deaths, and the heatwave definition used for 2020 differs from the one UKHSA uses from 2025. (UKHSA, April 2025)

Risk, other measures and projections

• In summer 2025, people aged 85 and over in England had the highest heat-associated death rate, at 364 deaths per million population, compared with 116 per million among those aged 75 to 84. Rates are per million people in each age group, and UKHSA found no significant heat-associated mortality in younger age groups that summer. (UKHSA, April 2026)
• During five heat-periods between June and August 2022, 3,271 more deaths occurred in England and Wales than the five-year average, 6.2% above normal. ONS counts all deaths above a five-year average during heat-periods in England and Wales, a different method and geography from the UKHSA estimate for the same summer. (ONS, October 2022)
• The Climate Change Committee projects that UK heat-related excess deaths in heatwave periods, currently 1,400–3,000 a year, could rise to 3,000–10,000 a year by 2050 under 2°C of global warming without additional adaptation. This is a modelled UK-wide range that counts deaths during heatwave periods only and assumes no change in the level of adaptation. (Climate Change Committee, May 2026)
• The LSE Grantham Research Institute estimates that the June 2026 heatwave cost the UK about 24 million lost working hours, or approximately £1.15 billion of lost output, in a single week. The estimate scales up self-reported lost hours from a survey to the whole workforce at average output per hour, and it excludes health costs and pressure on health services. (LSE Grantham Research Institute, July 2026)

Record temperatures

• The UK's highest temperature on record is 40.3°C, measured at Coningsby in Lincolnshire on 19 July 2022 and confirmed by the Met Office after quality control. This is a verified single-station reading and the first time 40°C was recorded in the UK. (Met Office, July 2022)
• During the July 2022 heatwave, the previous UK temperature record of 38.7°C was provisionally met or exceeded at 46 stations, and seven stations provisionally recorded more than 40°C. The station counts were provisional when published, and they show how widespread the record heat was rather than how hot it got at any one site. (Met Office, July 2022)
• The highest UK temperature of summer 2026 was 38.2°C, recorded at Hartpury College on 13 August 2026. This is a single-station reading added after late data arrived from a manual site, and it remains provisional. (Met Office, September 2026)

Summer 2026

• Summer 2026 was provisionally the UK's warmest summer on record, with an average mean temperature of 16.5°C in a series going back to 1884. This is a provisional UK-wide seasonal mean of day and night temperatures, so it may be revised slightly once all station data are checked. (Met Office, September 2026)
• Summer 2026 set a UK record with nine days above 35°C, almost double the previous record set in 2020. The count reflects the hottest spot in the UK each day, and the Met Office rates a season like this as unlikely even under current climate conditions. (Met Office, September 2026)
• By 13 August 2026 the UK had recorded a record four days reaching or exceeding 36°C and a record three days reaching or exceeding 37°C in a single year. These are provisional counts published on 13 August 2026, and a day counts if any single UK station reached the threshold. (Met Office, August 2026)
• The UK recorded 33 days above 30°C in summer 2026, compared with 22 days in the whole of summer 1976. The comparison is with one famous hot summer rather than a long-term average, and a day counts if the threshold was passed anywhere in the UK. (Met Office, September 2026)
• Summer 2026 had 55 days when the temperature somewhere in the UK went above 28°C, beating the previous record of 41 days set in both 1976 and 1995. A day counts if any part of the UK passed the threshold, which usually means southern England, and the gridded data can differ slightly from station records. (Met Office, September 2026)
• Summer 2026 beat the 1976 record for the UK average daytime maximum temperature, with a seasonal average maximum of 21.3°C. This averages daytime highs across the whole UK and the whole season, so it sits far below the peak readings seen on the hottest days. (Met Office, September 2026)
• In summer 2026, 54 Met Office weather stations broke their all-time daily maximum temperature record. Each count is a station beating its own highest reading, so it shows how widespread the heat was rather than a single national peak. (Met Office, September 2026)
• June 2026 was provisionally England's warmest June on record, with a mean temperature of 17.1°C, beating the previous record set in 2025. This is a provisional monthly mean for England only, and the UK as a whole did not set a June record that year. (Met Office, July 2026)

The longer trend

• Summer 2025 set a UK record at the time with a mean temperature of 16.10°C, 1.51°C above the long-term meteorological average and beating the 15.76°C record set in 2018. This record stood for one year before summer 2026 overtook it, and the figure was provisional when published. (Met Office, September 2025)
• Between 1960 and 1989 the UK went above 35°C only in summer 1976, but six summers in the last decade have had 35°C days. This compares counts of summers with at least one 35°C day anywhere in the UK, so it measures how often extreme heat occurs rather than how widespread it is. (Met Office, September 2026)
• The Met Office's UKCP18 climate projections indicate that by mid-century, hot summers like the UK's record-equalling summer of 2018 could happen around 50% of the time. This is a projection that depends on future greenhouse gas emissions, and the page does not name the emissions scenario behind it. (Met Office, December 2018)

• Heathrow and St James's Park in London both reached 40.2°C on 19 July 2022, the highest temperature on record for the Met Office England SE and Central S climate district. These are two single-station readings from the same day, and the table lists them as the record for the whole south-east and central-south district rather than for London alone. (Met Office, September 2026)
• Kew Gardens in London provisionally reached 38.1°C on 13 August 2026, making it the fifth hottest day on record for the UK. This is a provisional single-station reading, and a higher value from another site was reported later for the same day. (Met Office, August 2026)
• Kew Gardens in London holds the verified UK record for the highest May temperature, 35.1°C on 26 May 2026. This is a verified single-station record for the calendar month of May, set during a late-spring heatwave rather than in summer. (Met Office, June 2026)
• In a typical summer, night-time temperatures in central London are approximately 4°C higher than in the surrounding area because of the urban heat island effect, according to modelling published on the GLA London Datastore. This is a model estimate for midnight temperatures in one typical summer, so daytime gaps are smaller and gaps on the hottest nights can be larger. (GLA London Datastore, February 2017)
• London experienced four official heatwaves in 2025, according to the Greater London Authority. The page counts heatwave episodes without naming the station or definition behind them, so it shows how often heat recurred rather than how intense it was. (Greater London Authority, June 2026)
• UKHSA estimates there were 317 heat-associated deaths in London during the heat episodes of summer 2025 (95% confidence interval 139 to 495), with London and the East of England recording the highest numbers of any English region. This is a modelled estimate with a wide confidence interval, and UKHSA notes the gap between London and the East of England is not statistically significant. (UKHSA, April 2026)
• UKHSA estimated 387 excess deaths in London across the five heat periods of summer 2022 (95% confidence interval 158 to 615), a statistically significant figure. This counts all-cause deaths above the expected level during heat periods, so it is an estimate of heat impact rather than a count of death certificates naming heat. (UKHSA, June 2023)
• During the July 2022 heatwave, when London hit 40°C, the London Fire Brigade received 2,496 calls, including 740 relating to wildfires, according to the London Climate Resilience Review. The Review cites London Fire Brigade call data rather than producing it, and the call count covers all incident types during the heatwave, not only wildfires. (London Climate Resilience Review, July 2024)

UK electricity demand

• NESO's Future Energy Scenarios 2025 put electricity demand from home air conditioning in Great Britain at between 1.1 TWh (Holistic Transition) and 4.3 TWh (Falling Behind) a year by 2050. These are modelled pathways for Great Britain rather than forecasts, and the spread reflects different assumptions about how many homes adopt air conditioning. (NESO, November 2025)
• By 2035, NESO models home air conditioning in Great Britain using 0.8 TWh of electricity a year in its Ten Year Forecast and 0.5 TWh in its Holistic Transition pathway. The two 2035 values come from different modelling approaches, so treat them as a range rather than a single projection. (NESO, November 2025)
• UKERC modelling found that in its highest-adoption scenario for 2050, domestic air conditioning would raise the GB summer peak electricity load by 7GW, mainly in the evening. This is a modelled worst case layered on an older National Grid scenario, and the same study notes an electrified winter evening peak would still be higher. (UKERC, October 2020)
• A study for BEIS estimated that UK non-domestic buildings used approximately 6,187GWh of energy for cooling and humidification in 2019. The figure covers services-sector buildings only and rests on a 2015 England and Wales survey extrapolated to the UK, so it excludes homes and is several years old. (BEIS, Cooling in the UK, August 2021)
• Offices accounted for 51.2% of UK non-domestic energy use for cooling and humidification in 2019, with private offices alone at 44.0% and retail next at 18.8%. The sector split comes from the Building Energy Efficiency Survey 2015, which covered only England and Wales before being scaled to the UK. (BEIS, Cooling in the UK, August 2021)

What electricity costs

• Under Ofgem's price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026, households on a default tariff paying for electricity by Direct Debit pay on average 26.32 pence per kWh, with no VAT on electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. This is an average across England, Scotland and Wales for Direct Debit customers, so London rates differ, and the VAT change means it cannot be compared directly with earlier caps. (Ofgem, August 2026)
• Ofgem's price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 sets the average electricity standing charge for Direct Debit customers at 54.83 pence per day. The standing charge is paid every day regardless of use, so it adds nothing extra when an air conditioner runs; only the unit rate scales with use. (Ofgem, August 2026)

Global cooling demand

• Global electricity demand for space cooling has grown by 50% since 2015 to around 2,900 terawatt-hours a year, more than the total electricity demand of the entire European Union, according to the IEA. The figure is a global IEA estimate for cooling in buildings and excludes data centres, so it says nothing directly about UK use. (IEA, July 2026)
• In 2025, space cooling contributed 1,400 gigawatts of peak electricity demand across markets worldwide, equivalent to the total installed power generation capacity of the United States, according to the IEA. The total is summed across markets worldwide, so it indicates scale rather than the peak on any single grid. (IEA, July 2026)
• Since 2015, cooling has accounted for 14% of global electricity demand growth, reaching as much as 25% in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to the IEA. This is a share of the growth in demand, not a share of total electricity use. (IEA, July 2026)
• The IEA's Future of Cooling report found that air conditioners and electric fans account for about a fifth of the total electricity used in buildings worldwide, or 10% of all global electricity consumption. The share includes electric fans as well as air conditioners and dates from 2018, so the July 2026 IEA commentary is the more current measure of scale. (IEA, May 2018)

Sales and demand

• Split systems made up almost 80% of UK cooling units sold, with single splits alone at 76.9%, based on BSRIA sales data used in a BEIS study. Shares are by number of units across all sectors, homes and businesses together, and rest on BSRIA forecasts made several years ago. (BEIS, Cooling in the UK, August 2021)
• BSRIA sales data cited by BEIS show 150.5 thousand single split air conditioner outdoor units sold across all UK sectors in 2016, with sales forecast at 131.0 thousand for 2019. These are BSRIA-derived unit sales for homes and businesses combined, and the 2019 value is a forecast rather than recorded sales. (BEIS, Cooling in the UK, August 2021)
• Delta-EE research for BEIS estimated that only 3.8% of single split air conditioners sold in the UK in 2019, 4.99 thousand units, went into homes. The report calls residential sales data difficult to access and notes one manufacturer put its residential share far higher, so treat this as a low-confidence estimate. (BEIS, Cooling in the UK, August 2021)
• Global air conditioner shipments reached 200 million units in 2024, a year of exceptional heatwaves, with shipments growing by about 10% in Europe that year, according to the IEA. Shipments count units leaving manufacturers, not installations, and the figure is global with no UK breakdown. (IEA, July 2026)
• Demand for air conditioning installation on Checkatrade rose 63% year on year between July and September 2025, after a 23% rise in the previous quarter. Checkatrade counts job enquiries on its own platform, so the rise measures demand through one trade directory rather than completed installations across the UK. (Checkatrade, October 2025)
• Searches for homes for sale on Rightmove with air conditioning rose by 104% in summer 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. This measures buyers searching for homes that already have air conditioning, which signals demand but does not count installations. (Rightmove, August 2026)

Heat pumps and grants

• In November 2025 the government expanded the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales to offer £2,500 off the cost of installing an air-to-air heat pump, the first time air conditioning units have been eligible for government funding. The grant covers air-to-air heat pumps, which heat a home in winter as well as cooling it in summer. (DESNZ, November 2025)
• By the end of August 2026, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme had received 145 voucher applications for air-to-air heat pumps and had issued none, against 147,883 applications for air-to-water heat pumps. Air-to-air grants only opened in late April 2026 and vouchers take time to be issued, so these early counts will change in later monthly releases. (DESNZ, Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics, September 2026)
• There were over 60,000 MCS-certified heat pump installations in UK homes and small businesses in 2025, the most ever for a single year. The count covers MCS-certified installations only, so heat pumps and air conditioners fitted without MCS certification are not included. (MCS, February 2026)
• 43% of MCS-certified heat pumps installed in the UK in 2025 were delivered under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, according to MCS. The share is of certified installs only; DESNZ publishes the scheme's own voucher counts separately. (MCS, February 2026)
• By the end of August 2026, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales had issued 125,321 vouchers and paid 93,364 redemptions, with 98% of applications for air-to-water heat pumps. Redemptions paid are completed grant-funded installs, not all heat pump installs, and the figures are cumulative since May 2022. (DESNZ, Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics, September 2026)

• The IEA estimated in 2018 that just 3% of households in the United Kingdom and Germany had air conditioning, compared with 5% in France. These estimates cover the whole UK and predate the 2023-24 English Housing Survey analysis. (IEA, May 2018)
• In 2020, 88% of US households used air conditioning. This counts any air conditioning use, and central systems are the main equipment type in most US homes. (US EIA, May 2022)
• The IEA's 2018 figures put household air conditioning ownership at 91% in Japan and 60% in China. These are national shares compiled for the IEA's 2018 report, so they describe ownership before that date. (IEA, May 2018)
• Global household ownership of air conditioners was just over 30% in 2016, according to the IEA. This is a global average that combines near-universal ownership in a few countries with low ownership across most hot countries. (IEA, May 2018)
• There were 1.6 billion air conditioners in use worldwide at the end of 2016, according to the IEA. This count covers air conditioners in all buildings, commercial ones included, and dates from 2016. (IEA, May 2018)
• About 3.5 billion people live in regions with high temperatures, and only about 15% of them own an air conditioner, according to the IEA. This refers to people living in hot regions worldwide rather than to all households. (IEA, July 2025)
• By 2050, around 2/3 of the world's households could have an air conditioner, according to the IEA. This is a projection from the IEA's 2018 Baseline Scenario, which reflects current policies and targets at that time, rather than a measured figure. (IEA, May 2018)

Refrigerants and bans

• GB F gas law, retained Regulation (EU) No 517/2014, gives HFC-32 (difluoromethane, the refrigerant sold as R32) a global warming potential of 675. The value is the 100-year figure from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report that GB law uses, so newer IPCC reports give slightly different numbers. (GB F-gas Regulation, December 2020)
• Government guidance lists R-410A, a blend of HFC-32 and HFC-125 used in older split air conditioners, with a global warming potential of 2088. The figure is for the blend as a whole, so set it beside the HFC-32 value in GB law to compare older and newer split system refrigerants. (Defra and Environment Agency, February 2024)
• Since 2025, new 'single split' air conditioning systems that contain less than 3kg of refrigerant cannot be placed on the GB market if the F gas has a global warming potential above 750. The rule applies to new systems placed on the GB market, not to systems already installed in homes. (Defra and Environment Agency, August 2026)
• New movable air conditioning equipment, the kind a user can carry between rooms, is banned in GB if it contains HFCs with a global warming potential above 150. The limit applies to new units placed on the market, not to portable units already in homes. (Defra and Environment Agency, August 2026)
• GB law caps the quantity of HFCs that can be placed on the market at 31% of the baseline in 2024 to 2026, stepping down to 24% in 2027 to 2029 and 21% in 2030, measured in tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The percentages cap total HFC supply measured in tonnes of CO2 equivalent, so they limit the market as a whole and not any single gas. (GB F-gas Regulation, December 2020)
• In November 2025 the government opened a consultation proposing an almost full phase-out of HFCs in GB by 2048, a 98.6% cut, with changes introduced from 2027. This is a proposal put to consultation, so the figures are not yet law until the government confirms them in regulations. (Defra, November 2025)

Leak checks and certification

• Under GB rules, stationary air conditioning and heat pump equipment holding F gas equivalent to 5 to less than 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide must be leak checked at least once every 12 months, which for R410A means a charge of 2.4 kg or more. The trigger is the carbon dioxide equivalent of the refrigerant charge, so the kilogram threshold differs from one refrigerant to another. (Defra and Environment Agency, August 2019)
• In GB, anyone who installs, services, leak checks or decommissions air conditioning or heat pump systems containing F gas must hold their own qualification, with a category 2 certificate covering systems containing less than 3kg of F gas and a category 1 certificate covering all activities. The qualification belongs to the individual engineer, and a separate company certificate is needed by businesses that work on other people's equipment. (Defra and Environment Agency, March 2026)
• Any company in GB, including a sole trader, must be certified by an approved body to install, repair, maintain or decommission stationary air conditioning equipment containing F gas that is operated by others. A business that services only its own equipment does not need a company certificate, according to the same guidance. (Defra and Environment Agency, August 2019)