EU Affordable Energy Action Plan falls short of concrete direction for geothermal
The European Commission in Berlamont Building, Brussels, Belgium (source: Ecuador Foreign Ministry, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Carlo Cariaga
27 Feb 2025
The recently published Affordable Energy Action Plan by the European Commission calls for investment in geothermal but fails to provide any concrete actions.
On 26 February 2025, the European Commission released the “Action Plan for Affordable Energy” which aims to bring relief against high energy bills with an estimated overall savings of EUR 45 billion in 2025. The short-term measures are meant to lower energy costs, attract investments, complete the Energy Union, and be better prepared for potential energy crises.
The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) has responded to the Action Plan, welcoming the call to foster investment in geothermal. However, the association also criticizes the Action Plan for the lack of specific actions to realize this outcome.
“We are concerned that the Geothermal Action Plan was omitted from the Affordable Energy Action Plan,” said Philippe Dumas, EGEC’s Secretary-General. “This leaves a significant hole in the Action Plan,” he added. We agree on the need to complete the integration of our energy market to allow geothermal supply affordable energy to people and businesses.
Sanjeev Kumar, EGEC’s Policy Director, added that “excluding geothermal from the tripartite agreements initiative is counter-productive.”
The European geothermal industry has long called for a geothermal action plan that sets targets for geothermal growth in Europe and provides support in the areas of support schemes, permitting, accessibility of data, and strengthening of innovations. This call had then been echoed by the European Council.
Energy ministers, the European Parliament, the Committee of Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee and even Dan Jorgensen, the Commissioner for Energy and Housing had already committed to a geothermal action plan, which today is yet to be delivered.
Source: European Commission and EGEC
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