What did the European Heat Pump Association get up to in 2023? What were the highlights, the challenges, the conversations, the hot topics, the thorny issues?
Thomas Nowak, Secretary General, European Heat Pump Association (EHPA)
For the European Heat Pump Association, 2023 was a year of achievement.
Heat pumps are now fully established in all pieces of EU legislation, from the Green Deal to REPowerEU to the Green Deal industrial plan.
Policy-makers understand the multiple benefits of heat pumps. It is now clear that heat pumps will need to do the heavy lifting on Europe’s path to net zero. Alongside that, their export potential, benefit to local employment, and offer to cities and regions is recognised. What’s more, a power grid with more and more renewables requires heat pumps’ flexibility from the demand side.
In terms of EU policy, the end of the year saw the completion of the 2030 climate and energy laws – the Fit for 55% package - after an intense final
debate on an ambitious Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. We are very satisfied that the co-legislator eventually shared our view that a boiler
running mainly on fossil energy cannot be declared non-fossil just because there is a faint possibility of e-fuels.
A similar hot topic was the F-gas regulation. Stricter requirements on refrigerants will limit the solutions available to the industry, but at the same time the regulation gives guidance on the pathway of future development and so brings clarity to the market.
A growing EHPA secretariat was brimming with activity. More than 25 people are now working in the team on policy, markets, projects, events, communication, certification and operations. We are the ears, eyes, hands and voice of the heat pump industry in Europe, and acknowledged as such.
Policy and market intelligence is gathered and fed into communication and advocacy action, online and onsite events, meetings and debates were
organised, projects kicked off and the Heat Pump KEYMARK certification scheme saw its best year ever. Our network inside the European Commission
and Parliament is established and strong and we will continue to build it in 2024 and after the EU elections as the new Parliament and Commission take office.
The association recorded the highest interest ever in our work by press and stakeholders. We gave countless interviews (at times, one or more per day),
spoke at and attended events (on some days in the second half of the year, the full policy team was active in different parts of Europe) and explained our
work to potential new members. By the end of 2023 we had 214 members altogether.
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