The European Commission just unveiled its roadmap to end Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027.
This is an ambitious and much-needed step towards energy security and climate resilience.
But there’s something missing. And we can’t help but notice: where are heat pumps?
Heat pumps are already playing a crucial role in Europe’s energy shift. In 2024 alone, they helped avoid 24 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas use.
That’s no small feat. And if just 7% more European households installed a heat pump, we’d cut another 13 billion cubic metres – the same amount we still import from Russia for domestic use – our latest data, released ahead of our European Parliament’s debate on energy security, shows.
Simply put: we can’t end reliance on Russian fossil fuels without fully tapping into the potential of heat pumps.
The European Union has a key role to play. That means putting heat pumps front and centre in the energy security conversation, ensuring electricity is competitively priced and accessible, and sticking firmly to existing climate and energy targets.