Following on from the European Union’s commitments to phase out energy imports from Russia, make energy affordable, boost industrial competitiveness, improve energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) insists that the European Commission must present an investment-orientated strategy and action plan to accelerate the deployment of all geothermal energy solutions. EGEC calls on the European Commission to publish a dedicated European Geothermal Strategy and Action Plan in the first quarter of 2026. This echoes requests made by EU Energy Ministers (see the TTE Council Conclusions of 16 December 2024) and also by the European Parliament (Resolution on geothermal energy, adopted on 18 January 2024). Indeed, the European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jørgensen, has already confirmed (on 14 March 2025) that the Commission will present "an action plan on geothermal energy" before the end of March 2026. According to EGEC, the Commission’s proposal must include the following elements: An EU-wide target to reach 250 GW of geothermal capacity by 2040 covering all technologies. This will build on the 44 GW of installed capacity in the EU. A European Geothermal Charter, which codifies the 2040 target and launches the Geothermal Industrial Alliance to manage its delivery. Targeted European financial instruments to leverage private capital. Measures to make permitting processes more efficient and faster, as well as improving access to geological data. Sectoral or tripartite agreements with key energy consumers. Peer-to-peer guidance to help governments develop national and regional roadmaps to remove barriers, accelerate investments and build local supply chains. European instruments to support value chain development in local manufacturing and skilled professionals. The inclusion of geothermal energy as a central pillar of the EU’s Global Gateway and the Global Energy Transition Forum. Improvements to the collection and presentation of market data and statistics to enable better energy modelling. EGEC’s proposals are set out in a new policy document:The European Geothermal Strategy and Action Plan - Making Europe competitive, secure and affordable Watch EGEC's webinar on the launch of its recommendations for the EU Geothermal Strategy and Action Plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxUUaWHfuM8
The annual European award for innovation in the geothermal field has been renamed in memory of Ruggero Bertani, who passed away in June 2018 at the age of 62. The award is now designated the Ruggero Bertani Geothermal Innovation Award.
GEOENVI: Tackling the environmental concerns for deploying geothermal energy in Europe
The objective of GEOENVI project is to make sure that deep geothermal energy can play its role in Europe’s future energy supply in an increasingly sustainable way and to create a robust strategy to answer environmental concerns.
Italian government putting 10,000 jobs at risk and jeopardizing green investment by cutting support to geothermal energy.
EGEC welcomes the adoption of the Renewable Energy Directive, the Energy Efficiency Directive and the Governance Regulation by the European Parliament today. The new legislations will be the basis for the European climate and energy regulatory framework after 2020. While they do not quite point to the right level of ambition, they lay out a framework that allows the accelerated development of geothermal energy.
Given the restructuring of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling (RHC-ETIP), we hereby launch a call for experts to join the following Horizontal Working Groups (HWGs):
The public consultation on the first draft of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Deep Geothermal has been launched.
Candidatures are open for 1 vacant position for the Steering Committee of the ETIP-DG (European Technology & Innovation Platform on Deep Geothermal) 2017-2020.
GEORISK project: Developing geothermal projects by mitigating risks.
The Kick-off meeting of GEORISK project took place at EGEC’s office in Brussels on October 9-10, 2018.
EGEC is currently looking for a full time Project and Policy officer (38h/ week), who is able to work starting from November 2018, for a period of eight months.
In preparation to the upcoming European Heat Summit, organised in the context of the Praxisforum Geothermie.Bayern in Munich, EGEC Geothermal and Enerchange would like to invite you to the pre-event webinar Geothermal Heat: Market trends and opportunities, taking place on Wednesday 19 September 2018, from 11:00 am to 11:45 CEST time (UTC +2).
