A new analysis says that heat pumps avoided a staggering €9.7 billion in import costs alone last year.
Heat pump sales have soared across Europe, cushioning households from the crippling costs of gas amid the war on Iran.
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According to a new analysis from the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), the continent’s heat pumps provide as much heat as the liquified natural gas (LNG) carried by more than 200 tankers.
This is double the amount which arrived in the EU in 2025 from the Middle East, and represents around seven per cent of the EU’s total annual imported LNG. EHPA says this avoided a staggering €9.7 billion in import costs in 2025 alone.
Heat pumps are transforming Europe’s heating
Almost three million heat pumps, which capture energy from air, water or the ground and turn it into heat or cold air, were sold across 21 European countries last year - bringing the total stock to 29.3 million.
The analysis states that the 2.9 million new heat pumps alone replace 2.5 billion cubic metres of LNG, which is around 24 per cent of the EU’s imports from the Middle East.
“Every heat pump installed is another bolt in the door of European energy security,” says Paul Kenny of EHPA.
“LNG is the most expensive energy source and comes from unreliable suppliers, [but] heat pumps can drastically reduce our need for it. Indeed, Europeans are already turning away from fossil fuel heating as our new data shows.”
Kenny adds that the bloc now needs to make clean heating as “easy and affordable” as possible.
The bloc is currently preparing a non-legislative package around electrification, which is due this month. To boost the uptake of heat pumps, member states are being urged to reduce tax and VAT on green heating and electricity, a move which the Commission is already mulling over.
Many European countries already offer incentives to make heat pumps more affordable. Even England, which has historically had the worst uptake of heat pumps, offers a £7,500 (around €8,638.76) grant to help cover the cost of installation – if certain criteria are met.
Which European country has the most heat pumps?
France led the way last year, selling a staggering 528,000 heat pumps. The country now has the highest number of installed heat pumps in Europe, with around seven million units.
Italy came a close second, with 423,000 sold units in 2025 – while Malta (2,000), Luxembourg (3,000) and Cyprus (5,000) ranked last. However, it is worth noting that the population of these three countries combined is only around 2.5 million (compared to the estimated 69 million that live in France).
Germany witnessed the biggest year-on-year increases, with installations soaring by 50 per cent. The rise in sales comes after the country controversially dropped a draft law requiring households to replace fossil-fuelled boilers with climate-friendly alternatives.
The Greens’ parliamentary leader Katherina Droege, whose party introduced the original law in 2023, described the move as “a complete abandonment of Germany's climate targets”.
Relative to population size, Norway leads the heat pump race with 650 installations for every 1,000 households. Finland is close behind, with just above 540 installations per 1,000 households.
These cooler countries have debunked the common myth that heat pumps do not work in cold temperatures. Even when temperatures plunge to -30C, heat pumps can still be more efficient than electric heating.
