EPEE calls for heating and cooling initiative

BELGIUM: The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) has called for a dedicated European heating and cooling initiative, accompanied by financial support and fiscal incentives.

The announcement follows last week’s publication by the European Commission of its Electrification Action Plan and its objective of accelerating electrification across Europe.

Welcoming the Action Plan, EPEE director general Russell Patten said: “This is the moment our industry has been waiting for. Heat pumps are the single most effective technology that helps Europe to cut oil and gas dependence, lower household energy bills and keep manufacturing jobs in Europe.”

Patten applauded the fact that the European Commission had recognised that efficient electrification is not just a climate imperative but a matter of economic sovereignty, but insisted that it now required member states and co-legislators to move just as decisively.

In calling for a dedicated European heating and cooling initiative, he said: “Europe cannot accelerate electrification without making efficient technologies genuinely affordable. At the same time, access to cooling is becoming essential to protect people during increasingly frequent periods of extreme heat. The Electrification Action Plan is a strong starting point, but it must be followed by concrete measures supporting the entire heating and cooling sector.”