On Tuesday 14 May, 15 EU Member States (Latvia, Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) presented a joint non-paper calling for greater emphasis to be placed on efforts to decarbonise the cooling and heating sector.
They called for clear political signals to be sent through a future framework to achieve decarbonisation of the sector, including an inventory of existing regulatory measures, the implementation of these specific policy measures and targeted public and private financial support.
The signatory countries therefore called on the European Commission not only to publish the previously announced action plan on heat pumps (see EUROPE B1334035), but also to revise the 2016 ‘EU Heating and Cooling Strategy’ to bring it into line with the 2040 climate objectives.
According to the Commission’s Communication on the 2040 emissions reduction target (see EUROPE 13344/1), the EU’s building stock accounts for 42% of final energy consumption and around 35% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, given that around 80% of energy consumption in buildings is related to heating and cooling needs.
The signatories of the document therefore believe that the heating and cooling sector, particularly that of urban systems, has a “significant role to play” in the EU’s progress towards its 2040 climate objectives, and enjoys significant potential for decarbonisation, which “remains largely untapped at EU level”.
The signatory countries emphasise the principle of “energy efficiency first” and of minimising the energy needs of buildings for heating and cooling, which also means heating them using renewable energy sources such as solar energy, ambient energy, bioenergy or geothermal energy.
They also acknowledge the Commission’s assessment that electrification will be the “main catalyst for the energy transition” by 2040, but believe that the EU needs to draw up a concrete plan to rapidly increase the use of various renewable energy technologies, such as solar district heating plants, heat pumps and energy storage systems.
To see the ‘non-paper’, go to https://aeur.eu/f/c7s (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)