EHPA seeks inclusion of heat pumps under €175bn R&I scheme
1st November 2026
BELGIUM: The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) is bidding for heat pumps to be included within the EU’s €175bn research and innovation programme Horizon Europe.
Also known as FP10, Horizon Europe 2028–2034 was announced last year and is the EU’s 10th research and innovation framework programme, designed to succeed the current 2021–2027 funding cycle.
It includes a specific instrument called known as a European Partnership in which EU and industry, research organisations and national funders commit to a shared research agenda and co-fund it over several years.
The EHPA is calling for heat pumps to get a dedicated European Partnership, and be named as a priority area in the funding programme.
The association argues that this would give the heat pump sector long-term, predictable funding for work such as better efficiency, new refrigerants, lower costs, grid integration and high-temperature industrial applications. It would also signal that the EU treats heat pumps as a strategic technology.
Legislative negotiations between EU member states and the European parliament run through 2026 and 2027, with the full programme targeted to launch in January 2028.
The EHPA calls on the European Commission to recognise heat pumps as a dedicated thematic priority and covering the full technology and application spectrum.
It proposes that the partnership should structure its research and innovation priorities on cost competitiveness, environmental contribution, energy system integration and market uptake.
It suggests that this should form part of a comprehensive EU approach, alongside a Strategic Energy Technology (SET) plan implementation working group on heat pumps, a strong focus on heat pumps within the IWG on buildings and industry, a continued heat pump accelerator platform and a net-zero industry academy for heat pumps.
It also says that heat pumps should be given a visible, long-term and technology-specific place in European R&I and industrial policy, with strong links to the European Competitiveness Fund as well as funding instruments targeting deployment, such as the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank.
