German heating transition gathers pace as heat pump sales overtake gas boilers – report
Clean Energy Wire
The transition to climate-friendly heating in Germany has already become an economic reality regardless of political controversies, as heat pump sales outnumbered new gas boilers for the first time last year, according to a stocktake by consultancy co2online. “Around 284,000 heat pumps were likely sold in 2025, compared to around 230,000 new gas heating systems,” the organisation said.
“The trade sector is also supporting the transition: installation companies rate heat pumps three times more positively than gas heating systems, training courses are in high demand, and capacities have been expanded,” the consultancy added.
Economic considerations have become the main driver of the transition, co2online said. “Heat pumps are now the cheapest heating technology in terms of running costs. An average household saves several hundred euros per year compared to gas heating, not least due to rising CO₂ costs for fossil fuels.” Acquisition costs are also continuing to fall, it added.
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the heating sector is one of the biggest hurdles on Germany’s path to climate neutrality, which the government aims to achieve by 2045. While heat pumps have become the norm for new buildings, progress has been slow in modernising the existing building stock. More than half of existing homes in the country are still heated with natural gas, almost 20 percent with heating oil, and 15 percent by district heating, where energy sources vary. Renewable systems remain a small minority.
Following a major controversy, the previous government adopted a law reform to phase out fossil fuel heating in new buildings and, step by step, new heating systems in existing buildings. But the current government has announced major revisions to the law, creating uncertainty in the sector. Key points of the reform are expected by the end of the month.
By March, the government must also lay out in detail how it plans to meet the country’s greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030 and 2040 in different economic sectors in the highly anticipated Climate Action Programme, where heating and transport are set to become a focus.
