The Commission has today launched an online public consultation as part of its plans to accelerate the roll-out of heat pumps across the EU. By enabling a shift away from heating and cooling powered by fossil fuels, heat pumps are central to the clean-energy transition and to achieving carbon neutrality in the building sector in line with the goals set in the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU plan. The input from this consultation will feed into the Commission's work on an action plan on heat pumps intended for publication in the fourth quarter of this year. The consultation has been launched in all official EU languages and will run for 12 weeks until 30 August 2023.
The consultation focuses on four main areas, which are central to the expansion of the sector
- a partnership between the Commission, EU countries and the sector itself
- communication with all interest groups and a skills partnership for rolling out heat pumps
- legislation, notably eco-design and energy labelling
- accessible financing
A synopsis report of the contributions to this consultation and a summary of the results of all consultations will be published together with the Communication itself. Only responses submitted through the online questionnaire will be considered and included in the report summarising the responses.
The overall aim of this initiative is to draw up an action plan with specific measures which can be taken including at EU, national, regional and local levels to address the main barriers and to strengthen the pull factors for a faster roll-out of heat pumps.
Background
The REPowerEU plan calls for prioritising investments in renewables and energy efficiency to reduce fossil-fuel imports and for doubling the current roll-out rates of heat pumps in buildings. It also calls for a faster roll-out of large heat pumps for district heating and cooling networks.
There is an urgent need to shift to renewable and efficient heating and cooling technologies in buildings, industry and networks. The European Commission report on the competitiveness of clean energy technologies indicates that the roll-out of all types of heat pumps needs to accelerate further: from heat pumps for single-family houses, large multi-apartment buildings, tertiary buildings and heat networks, to high-temperature heat pumps for industrial applications. The Green Deal Industrial Plan points to heat pumps as one of the key technologies to meet EU climate-neutrality goals in the Net-Zero Industry Act to underpin industrial manufacturing.
Related links
Details
- Publication date
- 7 June 2023
- Author
- Directorate-General for Energy