Europe | Green policies

The EU should be the world’s heat-pump pioneer

But the union is falling behind in its efforts

A heatpump being installed in Berlin, Germany
That’s the way to do itPhotograph: Imago
|BERLIN

Fearing for her reappointment, Ursula von der Leyen, boss of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, soft-pedalled over unpopular green policies in the run-up to the European Parliament elections on June 9th. Mrs von der Leyen had proclaimed in 2019 that the EU Green Deal, the union’s strategy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, was the EU’s “man-on-the-moon moment”.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The EU’s role as heat-pump pioneer”

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