A public consultation was held by the European Commission until 9 October 2025 regarding their upcoming EU Heating & Cooling Strategy.
Given that heating and cooling accounts for nearly half of the EU’s energy use, Energy Efficiency for Europe recognises the Commission’s initiative as vital to achieving climate neutrality, reducing energy costs, strengthening security of supply as well as advancing Europe’s industrial competitiveness.
In their response, Energy Efficiency for Europe calls for:
- Putting the Energy Efficiency First principle at the core of the Strategy from design to implementation. Energy service companies (ESCOs) would play a key role in this, serving as project aggregators, enabling cost-effective delivery of integrated solutions such as Energy Performance Contracting (EnPCs) that guarantee energy and CO₂ savings and mobilise private investment.
- Ensuring a stable and predictable regulatory framework and a reduced administrative burden in order to secure long-term investments by companies delivering heating and cooling upgrades. Clarity on policy direction will help unlock private capital, support decarbonisation, and strengthen Europe’s industrial competitiveness.
- Promoting local approaches across Member States and efficient thermal solutions that are vital to balancing the system and mitigating peak electricity demand, such as district heating and waste heat recovery, to optimise the use of resources adapted to regional needs.
- Developing a coherent EU-wide cooling strategy that recognises cooling as a central pillar of the energy transition, rather than an appendage to heating. The Commission’s Strategy should improve summer comfort and address summer energy poverty whilst enabling passive and efficient cooling measures that reduce demand growth.
Energy Efficiency for Europe therefore calls on the Commission to ensure that the Heating & Cooling Strategy fully embeds energy efficiency measures, provides regulatory certainty to attract investment, and enables the deployment of diverse, resilient and cost-effective solutions to accelerate the EU’s clean energy transition.