Electrifying heat would push Europe significantly closer to its decarbonisation goals. And there is no time to wait: The heating and cooling sector currently accounts for 50% of the EU’s final energy consumption. Luckily, we don’t need to wait for a ‘magical moment’ to deploy solutions such as heat pumps. Even with today’s power mix, switching to electrified heat would markedly reduce emissions. Substantially increasing the use of renewable energy sources at the same time is pivotal for cementing the effectiveness of this solution.

On 26 May, Leonardo Energy and RAP welcomed Georg Thomaßen of Agora Energiewende to share the findings of his co-authored study The decarbonisation of the EU heating sector through electrification: A parametric analysis. RAP’s Jan Rosenow set the stage by discussing the importance of the heating sector for decarbonisation and Europe’s ‘Fit-for-55’ legislative package.