Brussels takes heat pump ‘action plan’ off the agenda

The European Commission has shelved proposals to boost the roll-out of heat pumps with a dedicated action plan, a move that will likely delay the initiative beyond the EU elections in June.

The EU executive has previously put forward similar initiatives for the wind and solar power sector, in a bid to accelerate roll-out and support domestic manufacturing.

Heat pumps, the bloc’s newest darling technology, will have to wait for theirs. An action plan scheduled for publication in the fourth quarter of 2023 has been shelved by the Commission’s top hierarchy to focus on other priorities, according to industry sources.

The news came as a disappointment to the European industry, which is facing faltering sales in Europe.

“Europe is falling behind on the decarbonisation of heat,” said Thomas Nowak, secretary-general of the European heat pump association (EHPA). Instead of addressing the issues, “the Commission has kicked [the action plan] into the long grass,” he added.

Heat pumps are expected to gradually replace fossil fuel boilers for household heat in the coming years. By 2030, Brussels is aiming to have a minimum of 30 million units installed across the EU, a move aimed at decarbonising the sector and reducing the EU’s dependence on Russian gas imports.

However, several barriers are making this target harder to achieve, according to a broad coalition of industry, NGO and think-tanks. 

To begin with, many EU countries have yet to restrict the sale of traditional fossil-based heaters. In Germany, a government attempt to ban them as of 2024 brought the government to the brink of collapse and has since been pushed into the late 2020s.

Secondly, fossil gas is still often cheaper than electricity, effectively abolishing the efficiency advantage of heat pumps. Skilled installers are in short supply and electricity grids are not always prepared to handle the extra load.

European heat pump sales are collapsing

Quarterly sales figures of heat pumps in Europe are in a slump amid a 14% drop compared to last year’s quarter, which the industry says was caused by political uncertainty and dropping gas prices.

Action plan delayed

To accelerate the roll-out of heat pumps – and boost domestic manufacturing along the way – the European Commission launched a public consultation in April to inform its upcoming action plan, which was expected to be published before the end of the year. 

But the plan has since been withdrawn from the Commission’s agenda, according to EHPA.

Contacted by email, the European Commissions said “preparatoy work” was still ongoing. “At this stage we cannot provide a precise date for when the Action Plan will be presented,” a spokesperson told Euractiv.

Effectively, this means the action plan will probably be delayed until after the June European elections and the appointment of a new European Commission, a process that won’t be finalised until later in the year.

“Postponing the finalisation of this plan to after the election can only be called a mistake,” said Nowak. 

Heat pumps are seen as crucial to decarbonise the building sector, which is responsible for 36% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

“About 50% of all the energy consumed in the EU today is used for heating and cooling. More than 70% of heating and cooling is still based on fossil fuels, mostly natural gas. In the residential sector, about 80% of the final energy consumption is used for space and water heating,” the Commission wrote in its own call for evidence when launching the public consultation.

With current policies in place, the EU executive estimates that emissions from transport and buildings will be missed by 6.2 percentage points. 

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic and Frédéric Simon]

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