Open letter: Support to keeping EAP and H&C Strategy independent and complementary

Dear Secretary General Juhansone, 

We, the undersigned organisations from across Europe’s industries and civil society, urge you to maintain the Electrification Action Plan and Heating & Cooling Strategy as separate and complementary documents.

Europe is facing the second energy crisis this decade. The root cause is clear: we remain dependent on imported fossil fuels. With heating and cooling making up around 50% of the EU’s total energy consumption, and more than two thirds of that still coming from fossil fuels, this sector requires clear policy support.

As AccelerateEU rightly indicates, our progress towards our energy independence and climate neutrality objectives requires a combination of electrification, use of homegrown energies, demand flexibility, and energy efficiency. Europe has the technologies ready to scale to work towards this vision now.

A dedicated EU Heating and Cooling Strategy is needed to unlock one of the most immediate levers for affordability, energy security and decarbonisation. As such, heating and cooling requires a dedicated delivery framework (incl planning, infrastructure investment, etc.).

The final decision regarding these two important topics should keep robust and ambitious content, truly aiming to:

• secure Europe’s long-term energy independence,

• reach decarbonisation and climate neutrality objectives

• ensure access to affordable clean energy for households and industries,

• empower relevant EU industrial actors  to deliver these changes, while ensuring fair competition between sectors.

We remain available to discuss these points with you and the relevant services. 

Yours sincerely,

Letter co-drafted with, and originally published by the Cool Heating Coalition here