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Goerlitz (DE) and Zgorzelec (PL) will invest in RES heat generation and connect its district heating networks with a cross-border pipeline, to jointly supply the European city with climate-neutral district heating based on a RES generation of 160 GWh per year.

The scheme will promote green district heating based on renewable energy and waste heat. The measure will contribute to the implementation of Germany‘s National Energy and Climate Plan and to the EU's strategic objectives relating to the EU Green Deal, in particular the EU's 2050 climate neutrality target.

The European Commission has published four studies that look at different aspects of the decarbonisation of heating and cooling in the EU. Roughly half of the energy consumed at present in Europe is used for heating and cooling, and most of it is based on fossil fuels.

Please note that this article was originally published by Eurostat - In 2020, renewable energy accounted for 23% of the total energy used for heating and cooling in the EU, steadily increasing from 12% in 2004 and 22% in 2019. This level and growth are similar to the one observed for the overall share of renewables, which increased from 10% in 2004 to 22% in 2020.

UK homes, university residences and public buildings will benefit from cleaner, more affordable heat and energy, thanks to £19 million government funding announced today to further expand Great Britain’s network of low carbon heating in December.

EHP welcomes the European Commission’s proposal on the Energy Performance of Building Directive recast. We are pleased to see that the proposal promotes equal treatment of waste heat and the production of on-site and nearby renewable energy supplied by a district heating and cooling system.

The LCP BAT Conclusions (LCP BAT-C) were adopted on 31 July 2017, starting a 4-year period for operators to comply with the new requirements, until 17 August 2021. On 27 January 2021, the General Court of the European Union annulled the Large Combustion Plants best available techniques Conclusions (LCP BAT-C)

COP26 took place in Glasgow, between 1-12 November, bringing together world leaders to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The overarching aim of the conference is to limit global temperature rise to within 1.5 degrees.

On 26 October the European Commission published its annual State of the Energy Union’s report, which provides an evaluation on the implementation of the EU energy and climate policies in view of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

The new Act on the Promotion of the Use of Renewable Energy Sources introduces a ban on the installation of heating boilers for fuel oil, and coal from 2023, and envisages a two-year deadline for issuing permits for power plants, and new rules for prosumers and self-consumption.

Although the global renewable heating and cooling share in buildings remains low, some countries and regions have achieved relatively higher shares. In the EU, a global leader in this area, renewable energy accounted for more than 21% of total heating and cooling needs (including industrial process heat) in 2018 (latest data available).