Heat Roadmap Europe (HRE) was a Horizon 2020-financed programme that brought together 24 partners (universities, research institutions, industry and city associations, and various relevant businesses) to map and model the heating and cooling energy systems of the 14 largest heat consumers in the EU. Together, HRE sought to provide holistic analyses of the energy system to make the costs, impacts, and effects of different sustainable energy measures in the H&C sector comparable for political, public, and private decision-makers alike.

HRE’s objective was to empower policymakers and investors to develop informed policies and, in turn, invest in new markets that would decarbonize the H&C sector. Among other goals, the project aimed to specify how up to 3,000,000 GWh/year of fossil fuels could be saved in Europe and to illustrate how the €3 trillion of investments required to implement these savings would ultimately reduce the net cost of Europe’s energy needs.