The potential for waste heat for district heating and cooling was a big subject at the recent Euroheat & Power Congress. The Accessible Urban Waste Heat report published in 2018 by ReUseHeat, an EU research project, is worth (re-)visiting to help assess opportunities. It shows enough waste heat could be recovered from urban sources, such as data centres, metro stations, service sector buildings, and waste water treatment plants to supply more than 10% of the EU’s total energy demand for heat and hot water.

A new publication by Energy Cities, a Brussels-based NGO, illustrates the energy transition investment needs of five European cities (Ghent, Belgium, Frederikshavn, Denmark Bordeaux-Métropole, France, Sevilla, Spain and Tallinn, Estonia). The amounts vary significantly between €750 million to €3 billion. The report also provides guidance on where financial support is needed locally in an effort to steer funding change at an EU and national level to ensure spending supports actions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. 

All EU member states need to rewrite draft plans aimed at showing how they will get on a pathway to net zero emissions by 2050, according to analysis by the Ecologic Institute and Climact, commissioned by the European Climate Foundation. Too many countries have limited plans for phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies, offer few indications on much needed investments, have included “too much unsustainable biomass” in their planned energy mix and are failing to consult adequately with the public. Final versions are due by the end of the year.