Around half of all the energy we use in the EU is for heating and cooling the places we live and work.
The process of replacing fossil fuels with renewables, and other zero-carbon solutions in heating and cooling, has been slower than in the case of electricity generation.
In 2025, around 2 thirds the energy used for heating and cooling still came from fossil fuels.
Increasing renewables in heating and cooling
The Renewable Energy Directive (EU/2023/2413) includes specific measures to accelerate the development of renewables in heating and cooling, such as
- binding national targets requiring each EU country to increase their share of renewables in the sector every year, along with a list of measures from which EU countries must choose to achieve these targets
- targets for the share of renewables in district heating and cooling and in buildings
- requirements for EU countries to introduce measures to ensure energy system integration, so that heating and cooling contribute to a more efficient, economic and flexible energy system
- promoting the recovery and use of waste heat and cold
- requirements for EU countries to ensure that there are enough qualified installers of heating and cooling systems
- measures for integrating renewables in the EU building stock, the largest heating and cooling end-use sector
The EU renewable energy target has strong links with the EU energy efficiency targets and measures. The more energy is saved, the easier it is for EU countries, and the EU as a whole, to reach their renewable energy targets.
Renewable heat sources, such as ambient and geothermal energy, used mainly via heat pumps and solar thermal, provide low temperature heat (up to 200° C), working most optimally with highly energy-efficient, well-insulated buildings or low temperature process heat (for example, breweries and food drying).
Decarbonising the heating and cooling sector is 1 of the 3 focus areas of the Renovation Wave Strategy.
The Delegated Act on renewable cooling, adopted in 2023, complements the Renewable Energy Directive by setting rules on how energy used for cooling can count towards the directive’s targets. This methodology rewards the best available technologies, such as highly efficient reversible heat pumps and free cooling by district cooling networks, while also incentivising the future deployment of innovative cooling technologies. It further enables EU countries to submit their own, more accurate methodologies So far, only France has submitted a revised methodology for urban district cooling networks to better reflect their renewable energy performance.
Studies on heating and cooling
To assist policymaking, develop new legislation and ensure evidence-based implementation, the Commission has conducted a series of studies on the heating and cooling sector, the most recent of which was published in 2023.
2016 Heating and Cooling Strategy
The EU Heating and Cooling Strategy (COM/2016/051) provided a first overview of the energy consumption and fuel mix of the heating and cooling sector across the main end-use sectors: buildings and industry. It also outlined actions and tools to support the sector's contribution to the EU's objective of climate neutrality by 2050.
These actions and tools, implemented in the Clean Energy for all Europeans’ package adopted in 2019, focus on increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency in this sector, while applying an integrated approach to the energy system.
Comprehensive assessments on efficient heating and cooling
In line with Article 25 of the Energy Efficiency Directive, EU countries are requested to carry out a comprehensive heating and cooling assessment and to notify the Commission once it is completed. These assessments should be carried out every 5 years, together with integrated National Energy and Climate Plans.
The methodology of the assessments is set out in Annex X of the Energy Efficiency Directive. Assessment shall provide an overview of the heating and cooling sector in the country, including statistical data and a summary of relevant policies. They shall also present an analysis of the economic potential for efficiency in heating and cooling, identifying suitable technologies for supplying low-carbon and energy-efficient heating and cooling using a cost-benefit analysis. Lastly, additional and future policy measures in heating and cooling shall be proposed. Further guidance for the assessments is provided in a Commission recommendation, and the Commission has also prepared voluntary reporting templates in all official EU languages.
The reports, assessments and their annexes for 2015, 2020 and 2024, by EU country, are available in their original language. English translations are available for 2015 and 2020.
Related links
- News: Have your say on the EU’s Electrification Action Plan and the Heating and Cooling Strategy (28 August 2025)
- Directive on energy efficiency (EU/2023/1791) amending Regulation (EU/2023/955)
- Commission Recommendation on the comprehensive assessment of the potential for efficient heating and cooling under Article 14 of the Energy Efficiency Directive and annex (EU/2019/1659)
- Synthesis report on the evaluation of national notifications related to Article 14 of the Energy Efficiency Directive, Joint Research Centre (2018)
- EU Strategy on Heating and Cooling (COM/2016/51)
- Commission Staff Working Document Review (SWD/2016/24)