Decarbonising Heat Needs More Than One Answer

Decarbonising Heat Needs More Than One Answer

Ten organisations, including Liquid Gas Europe, are calling on the EU to ensure renewable fuels have a clear role in the forthcoming Heating and Cooling Strategy.

Heating and cooling account for around 50% of the EU's total final energy consumption - making it the single largest energy end-use sector in Europe. As the European Commission prepares its forthcoming Heating and Cooling Strategy and the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED IV), the question of how to decarbonise that sector is becoming one of the most consequential policy decisions of this decade.

The answer, a broad coalition of ten European associations argues, cannot be a single technology. Liquid Gas Europe, alongside nine organisations representing renewable fuel producers and suppliers, has published a joint statement calling on EU policymakers to ensure that renewable molecules - including renewable fuels for heating - are fully recognised as an essential part of Europe's decarbonisation toolkit, alongside electrification.

Why Electrification Alone Is Not Enough

Electrification is a vital pillar of the energy transition. But it cannot reach every home, farm, SME, or industrial site in Europe. Many face real, practical barriers: ageing buildings that are difficult or prohibitively expensive to renovate, industrial processes that require high-temperature heat, limited grid capacity in rural and remote areas, and upfront investment costs that are simply out of reach for many households.

Around 7 million households across the EU rely on LPG for space and water heating, while approximately 700,000 businesses use it to heat commercial premises or provide industrial process heat. More broadly, over 137 million EU citizens live or work in rural areas, many of whom depend on liquid fuels for their energy needs. For these consumers and businesses, renewable fuels for heating offer a credible, practical alternative - one that can deliver emissions reductions now, using infrastructure and appliances that already exist.

What Renewable Fuels Bring to the Table

Renewable fuels - including renewable liquid gases - offer a set of advantages that are directly relevant to the challenges of decarbonising heat at scale:

Immediate impact. Renewable fuels can reduce emissions today, without waiting for full equipment replacement, deep building renovation, or new network infrastructure. They work with existing boilers, appliances, and supply chains.

System resilience. Unlike electricity, renewable fuels can be stored and transported, providing a flexible energy source that can be deployed when and where it is needed. This is particularly valuable during periods of peak heating demand, which often coincide with lower renewable electricity generation.

Rural and social inclusion. For households and communities in areas with limited grid access or high retrofit costs, renewable fuels can provide an affordable decarbonisation pathway that electrification alone cannot offer.

Consumer choice. A technology-neutral approach gives households and businesses the ability to choose the decarbonisation solution that works best for their specific circumstances - rather than being locked into a single prescribed pathway.

What the Coalition Is Asking For

The joint statement sets out five clear asks for the European institutions:

1. Recognise renewable molecules alongside electrification as essential components of a resilient, affordable, and climate-neutral heating system.
2. Establish technology-neutral policy mechanisms that create long-term demand for renewable heating fuels and provide investment certainty for producers, suppliers, and consumers.
3. Support a broad range of sustainable feedstocks by leveraging existing certification frameworks to ensure robust but workable safeguards.
4. Value emissions reductions achieved through all sustainable renewable energy carriers and technologies, allowing consumers to choose the most appropriate pathway for their circumstances.
5. Protect vulnerable and rural consumers by ensuring a cost-effective, gradual transition in line with the availability of a sustainable, renewable fuel supply.

The Regulatory Gap That Needs to Close

Despite their potential, renewable fuels face a regulatory environment that is "incomplete, fragmented, and sometimes adverse." In some cases, technology bans actively prevent their deployment. This regulatory uncertainty undermines investment and slows the scale-up of production that a meaningful contribution to the heating transition would require.

Clear, long-term policy signals are essential to unlock investment across renewable fuel value chains and accelerate deployment at scale.

A Practical Path Forward

The coalition's message is not a challenge to electrification - it is a call for complementarity. A heating transition that is genuinely resilient, affordable, and inclusive will require electrification, energy efficiency, and renewable fuels to work together.

The Heating and Cooling Strategy is an opportunity to establish exactly that kind of balanced, outcome-based framework - one that reflects the real diversity of Europe's housing stock, energy systems, and consumer circumstances.