Heat Pump Sales Surge Across Europe Amid Energy Shortages
- Heat pump sales across Europe rose sharply in 2025 and early 2026 as households sought alternatives to expensive gas heating.
- Rising Middle East tensions and high energy import costs are accelerating interest in electrified home heating systems.
- Policy uncertainty in Germany and Austria could slow momentum despite growing long-term demand for heat pump technology.
Heat pump uptake is on the rise in Europe, as consumers take their energy bills into their own hands. Europe, which already experienced high gas prices and energy shortages after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, is now experiencing widespread energy shortages and soaring prices due to the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, sparked by the February U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. While governments across the region have been investing in the deployment of more renewable energy capacity in recent years, most consumers still rely heavily on gas for heating and cooking.
Many countries across Europe continue to depend on fossil fuels for heat. Most countries rely on foreign oil and gas imports rather than domestic production, meaning that they are extremely vulnerable to supply chain disruptions and price volatility. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, recently said that the European Union spent an additional 24 billion euros on energy imports in less than two months.
Unlike hot water radiators powered by gas, furnaces, or air conditioning units that blast out hot air, heat pumps provide energy-efficient heating, using electricity to transfer heat from a cool space to a warm space. In cold weather, heat pumps move heat from your house to the outdoors, while in warm weather, they move heat from the cool outdoors into your warm house. As they are designed to transfer rather than produce heat, it makes them more significantly energy efficient.
According to data from the United States Department of Energy (DoE), using a heat pump can reduce household electricity use for heating by up to 75 percent compared to electric resistance heating, such as furnaces and baseboard heaters. They can also help dehumidify houses better than air conditioners. While there are several different types of heat pumps, the most common is the air-source heat pump.
For years, heat pumps have been prohibitively expensive, leading many consumers in Europe to stick with regular gas-powered hot water boilers. However, as government incentives provide subsidies for heat pump uptake and gas bills rise to record highs, many consumers across the region are considering investing in an energy-efficient heat pump. This is no surprise considering the price of European natural gas has risen about 40 percent since February.
Heat pump sales in 2025 increased by 10.3 percent across 16 European countries on average, according to preliminary data from the European Heat Pump Association. Approximately 2.62 million residential heat pumps were sold, marking an increase from 2.38 million in those countries in 2024, and bringing the total installed in Europe to around 28 million.
In the first quarter of 2026, approximately 575,000 heat pumps were sold in 11 European markets, marking a 17 percent increase from the same period in 2025, according to the European Heat Pump Association. The increase in uptake was the greatest in France, Germany, and Poland.
Although consumer interest in heat pumps is growing, there is uncertainty over whether this can be sustained. Bureaucracy continues to be a barrier to uptake, as attaining the regulatory approval to install the equipment can take weeks or even months in some countries.
In Germany, the Minister of the Economy, Katherina Reiche, announced in May that the “rigid” requirement stating that new heating systems must be powered by at least 65 percent renewable energy would be scrapped. The government has also ended the ban on “forced heating system replacements or bans”, including the ban on new oil and gas heating systems, which has been phased in since 2024. The move aims to give homeowners greater freedom of choice and create “investment security” for construction companies.
However, critics suggest that the move will undo much of the progress towards transitioning away from gas-powered heaters to energy-efficient options, powered by renewable electricity. Jan Rosenow, a professor of energy and climate policy at Oxford University, explained, “the significant watering down of key provisions… postpones necessary decisions and will ultimately make the transition more expensive and more chaotic."
A similar situation has been seen in Austria, as the government halted heat pump subsidies in the first three months of the year when funds ran out. It is unclear whether consumers in these markets will still invest in new heat pump systems.
While there is still uncertainty around the potential pace of uptake, several companies are coming out with innovative heat pump technology that is expected to support a long-term shift.
In May, Amazon announced that it had signed a deal for a new type of rooftop heat pump that will provide all-electric heating, super-efficient cooling, and cheaper energy bills at several of the firm’s commercial buildings. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air-Conditioning Europe announced plans to launch two new higher-capacity 10 kW and 14 kW water heat pumps, designed for large residential properties and small commercial applications.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
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