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
GeoTHERM has launched a call for papers to be presented at the 2018 edition of its congress, about shallow or deep geothermal energy. Interested speakers can send their abstracts until 8th of September 2017. Detailed information is summarized in the Call for Papers.
Cranfield University, UK, has launched a new Geothermal Engineering MSc, designed to meet the growing demand for specialists capable of ensuring this abundant renewable energy source is turned into a constant and independent supply. The MSc will start at Cranfield University in October 2017.
Over 50 participants completely filled up the Maelbeek room at the Résidence Palace Building, Brussels, to attend the session “Innovation in the Renewable Heating and Cooling sector”, organised by the RHC-ETIP as part of the official programme of the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) 2017 on 21st June. The programme intended to showcase successful stories of innovation in the renewable heating and cooling (RHC) currently in progress.
For an ambitious and coherent 2030 framework for climate and energy policies, binding targets are needed for energy savings, renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction. This is the successful triangle for an 80%-95% GHG emission reduced Europe by 2050 and be in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.
The Annual Event “Innovation in the Renewable Heating and Cooling sector” of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling (RHC-ETIP) was successfully held on Tuesday 20th June, in Brussels, Belgium.
The International Energy Agency, which includes OECD countries and covers other major economies such as China or India, has issued its 2017 Tracking Clean Energy Progress report. In this publication, the Agency assesses the consistency of the deployment of different energy technologies with the 2°C scenario, and identifies those that are on-track and those that are not.
The EU founded project GEMex - Cooperation in Geothermal energy research Europe-Mexico for development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and Superhot Geothermal Systems (SHGS) – has launched a call for interest inviting experts to be part of the GEMex Stakeholders Board.
EGEC has released a policy paper assessing the current European Commission’s energy modelling for heating and cooling, used to generate forecasts that serve as basis for policy proposals and policy making. The resulting analysis shows a lack of robustness in the Commission’s forecasts for the heating and cooling sector, which translates in a lack of ambition, in the initial Commission’s proposal, for the future of the renewable heating and cooling (RES-HC) sector.
After months of work, the rapporteurs on the Clean Energy Package have started issuing their draft reports on several files of the legislative bundle. These draft reports will constitute the basis for discussion in the European Parliament about the different regulations.
