Reaching the Paris targets, and thus limiting the climate crisis, can only be achieved by largely phasing-out fossil fuel use by the middle of the century.

Heating space and hot water supply accounts for 43 % of the Western Balkans energy consumption; district heating represents approximately 20% of this, 97 % is based on fossil fuels and 3% on renewable energy.

In Ukraine, heating and hot water supply accounts for approximately 60% of the total energy consumption, of which 35%-40% is supplied by district heating, 93 % is based on fossil fuels and 7 % on renewable energy.

The centralisation of heat production enables the use of different energy sources, including excess heat from industry. It also allows heat from biomass and waste to be produced with low emissions thanks to effective flue gas cleaning, a process that is not typically available at a local building scale. While most district heating systems globally still rely on fossil fuels, some  countries in the Western Balkans have utilised the benefits of centralised heating systems to start decarbonising some shares of their heat supply.

Our objective is to support district heating systems to deploy more renewables and waste heat in district heating networks, as part of the solution of the energy transition. District heating may be a significant component of a cost-effective energy transition to a smart integrated energy system, using alongside renewable energy solutions such as geothermal, large scale heat pumps, biomass or solar thermal in district heating networks.

The web Network will facilitate the exchanges of good practices, information on technologies, policies and support programmes.

Moreover, the Network members may act together to apply for technical and financial support from different European programmes and financial institutions.