Reducing Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, strengthening energy sovereignty, improving competitiveness and delivering on climate objectives all require a well-thought and well funded  transformation of Europe’s homes. For public, cooperative and social housing providers, the objective is broader than electrification alone – it is to decarbonise Europe’s homes while keeping them affordable. Electrification will be a key driver of this transition, but it is not an end in itself.

“Public, cooperative and social housing providers are uniquely placed to make this happen. Together, Housing Europe’s members own and manage more than 26 million homes across Europe and are already delivering the energy transition at scale. From deep renovation programmes and renewable energy projects to energy communities and neighbourhood regeneration, they demonstrate every day that climate action, affordability and social inclusion can go hand in hand. Success should therefore be measured not only by the technologies deployed, but by the ability to reduce emissions, lower energy bills and build more resilient communities.” says Marco Corradi, President of Housing Europe.

The Action Plan announces a range of initiatives – from public procurement and social leasing to European Investment Bank financing and a future Clean Market Mechanism – to accelerate the uptake of clean heating technologies. Together, these initiatives have significant potential. As they are developed, they should form a coherent and predictable investment framework that reflects the way public, cooperative and social housing providers actually plan, finance and deliver large-scale renovation and new-build programmes, rather than a collection of standalone technology incentives.

This is particularly important because housing providers invest differently from individual consumers. They work at neighbourhood scale, integrating energy efficiency, renewable energy, heating and cooling systems, resident participation and long-term asset management into a single investment strategy. Future European initiatives should therefore place as much emphasis on the organisations delivering decarbonisation as on the technologies enabling it.

The Commission’s Action Plan contains several encouraging signals. It recognises that social housing and households with obsolete heating systems could be prioritised for future support measures and highlights a Belgian social housing project as an example of innovative electrification in practice (point 2.3). This is an important acknowledgement of the role the affordable housing sector already plays in delivering Europe’s decarbonisation objectives.

Housing Europe’s members also know from experience that there is no single pathway to decarbonisation. This was evident at the federation’s recent Decarbonisation Summit, where members showcased an array of solutions already delivering results across Europe – from heat pumps and highly efficient district heating to geothermal energy, solar thermal, photovoltaic systems, neighbourhood energy schemes and deep renovation programmes. Europe’s diversity is an asset. Different building stocks, climates and local energy systems require different approaches, but they all pursue the same objective – affordable, resilient and decarbonised homes.

This is why the forthcoming Heating and Cooling Action Plan will be such an important complement to the Electrification Action Plan. It should provide a comprehensive framework for decarbonising affordable housing that supports different technological pathways while encouraging integrated, neighbourhood-based approaches tailored to local conditions.
The same principle should guide the Commission’s planned proposal on electricity network tariffs. Future electricity market reforms should enable collective self-consumption, energy communities and neighbourhood-scale renewable energy systems, ensuring that people living in all kinds of homes, including multi-family housing, can fully benefit from both electrification and the wider decarbonisation of Europe’s energy system.

Housing Europe and its members stand ready to work with the European institutions as strategic implementation partners, bringing decades of practical experience in delivering integrated renovation, long-term investment and affordable decarbonisation where it matters most – in public, cooperative, and social housing which is known as the most affordable housing.