Eurovent calls for recognition of HVACR sector
14th February 2025
BELGIUM: The European manufacturers’ group Eurovent is calling for the recognition of the HVACR sector in the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal and related policies, to preserve the industry’s competitiveness.
The Clean Industrial Deal was first introduced by the European Commission last year to enhances the competitiveness of Europe’s net-zero industry and is accelerating the transition to climate neutrality.
Eurovent accepts that the recently published 2025 Commission work programme has “outlined some helpful first measures” to address the obstacles that make it hard for European industries to compete, but is expressing its concerns about the tendency in the EU to pick “winners” and “losers” – industries that are deemed ‘strategic’ enough to receive attention and support.
“Although the HVACR industry has partly benefitted from this treatment, as heat pumps were recognised as a strategic net-zero technology, it fails to recognise the links and interconnections between technologies and sectors,” Eurovent says in a press statement, adding: “No industry exists in isolation.”
Eurovent deputy secretary general Stijn Renneboog has called for the recognition of the entire HVACR sector – including but not limited to heat pumps.
“This policy framework will have to deliver for the HVACR industry, as it will have to for other industries, in recognition of the important contribution our sector makes to quality of life, to the EU’s net-zero ambitions, and to European prosperity,” Renneboog said.
A Eurovent paper on the recognition of the HVACR sector in the Clean Industrial Deal reiterates the call from its manifesto to create an industrial strategy that deepens the single market, lifts internal trade barriers and creates an improved ‘Better Regulation’ agenda that is mindful of its impact on competitiveness.
The paper emphasises that an innovative and competitive European HVACR industry is essential to the European economy and the EU’s net zero industry ambitions.
Eurovent represents over 100 companies in the European HVACR industry directly, and more than 1,000 indirectly through its 16 national associations.
The official presentation of the Clean Industrial Deal is scheduled for February 26.
