Heating and cooling accounts for a staggering 80% of energy used in EU households – with 75% of that coming from fossil fuels. This pollutes as much as all the cars in the EU combined. There are solutions at our fingertips, but policymakers must step up and deliver on climate targets. Here’s how.

The deployment of renewable heating in the EU has to speed up. With clean options available, there is no need for inefficient, polluting appliances to remain in our homes. They harm our health, our planet, our energy security and independence, and our wallets. Enough is enough.

In 2022 and 2023, multiple initiatives were proposed by the European Commission to help decarbonise heating in the built environment. Unfortunately, their progress has been slow, with some proposals now frozen until after the EU elections in June 2024.

So, where do we stand on heating decarbonisation?

The EU’s heating decarbonisation toolbox

In 2024, EU policymakers will continue to discuss many relevant tools. However, with discussions moving at a glacial pace, finalising each of these measures in a timely manner is vital. They are intended to work together to decarbonise heating in buildings, one of the primary sources of Europe’s emissions, and each tool is important in its own way. Let’s explore why – and what policymakers must do to ensure they deliver for the environment.

1. Revised ecodesign and energy labelling rules for space heating and solid fuel heating

Ecodesign rules set the energy efficiency and environmental requirements that appliances must meet to be allowed on the EU market, pushing out the least sustainable products. In parallel, energy labels enable consumers to choose products with higher energy efficiency.

Space heating

Gas and oil boilers are significantly less efficient than renewable solutions, such as heat pumps. Raising the energy-efficiency threshold for space heaters to the 115% originally proposed by the European Commission would effectively phase out new installations of inefficient fossil fuel boilers.

Current rules date from 2013, so this revision is long overdue. With the process already underway since 2018, we need this revision to happen now – it is already much too late.

Unfortunately, this file has become hugely politicised, with gas and hydrogen lobbies spreading misinformation across Europe to sow confusion, especially in countries like Italy and Germany. It is important that this conversation continues – and continues to be based on facts.

What we want:

• Discussions to resume on ecodesign for space heaters as soon as possible. To meet climate targets, the transition away from fossil fuel boilers needs to start by 2029.
• Higher energy efficiency requirements for space heaters to push the most polluting off the market.
• A revised energy scale for heaters by 2025, with fossil fuel boilers at the bottom.

Read more in our Q&A, factsheet, and letter to EU Member States.

Solid fuel heating

A consultation forum on ecodesign and energy labelling rules for solid fuel heating is planned for autumn 2024. Such meetings are organised by the European Commission to gather feedback on its proposals. This discussion will be key to steering the conversation towards stronger energy efficiency and pollutant emissions requirements. ECOS will attend and contribute.

What we want:

• Coal boilers to be phased out as soon as possible.
• More environmentally ambitious rules on energy efficiency and pollutant emissions.

Read more in our blog and position paper.

2. Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)

Improving EU buildings is vital for the bloc’s climate and energy goals – buildings are responsible for 40% of EU energy consumption, and 75% (!) of them are currently energy inefficient. The EPBD, which emerged from difficult negotiations in late 2023, will set targets to reduce the environmental impacts of European buildings throughout their entire lifetime. With the law set to be voted on by the European Parliament in plenary in March 2024, attention has now shifted to its implementation.

What we want:

• The EPBD to be adopted as it is – no watering down!
• ‘Stand-alone’ fossil fuel boilers to be phased out by 2040 – and appropriate guidance on the definition of fossil fuel boilers as soon as possible.
• No more subsidies on fossil fuel boilers from 2025.

Read more in our op-ed and press release reacting to the final EPBD trilogue.

3. Heat Pump Action Plan

The EU’s Heat Pump Action Plan is intended to ease on-the-ground transitions to heat pumps in buildings. This is much needed, given that heat pumps are one of the best solutions for decarbonising heating in buildings.

However, the Heat Pump Action Plan has been ill-advisedly postponed until after the EU elections. Originally expected in early 2024, this delay puts the energy transition in heating at risk.

We want:

• The Heat Pump Action Plan to be unfrozen and published as soon as possible.
• The ‘side’ problems in the transition to more heat pumps to be addressed, such as skills gaps, upfront costs, and long-term affordability.

Read more in our myth-buster and joint letter to unfreeze the Heat Pump Action Plan.

Failure to deliver on heating is not an option for Europe

With such a full toolbox under discussion, 2024 is an important year – but we cannot be complacent. These tools must deliver. It is time to accelerate the deployment of renewable heating solutions and banish inefficient and polluting appliances once and for all.