German heat pump experience helps China to tap emission reduction potentials

White Paper on Heat Pumps for Carbon Neutrality (2021) released

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On 11 October, the Heat Pump Industry Committee of China Energy Conservation Association (CHPA) published its flagship publication White Paper on Heat Pumps for Carbon Neutrality (2021) at the China Heat Pump Annual Conference in Wuhan. Incorporating German and European experience, the white paper shows in detail where application potentials for heat pumps exist across various sectors and how much CO2 could be saved by realizing these potentials. Moreover, it proposes ways in which policy and markets can promote the scaling up of this technology.  

Heat pump: the best technical path to zero carbon in the heating sector

The White Paper analyzes the role of heat pump technology in achieving China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goal and concludes that heat pumps are the best technological option to achieve zero carbon in the heating field. Heat pumps are a mature, economical and - most importantly – highly efficient renewable energy technology that can provide both heating and cooling. By using power to drive a cycle that extracts additional ambient energy from the air or ground, heat pumps can generate 3 to 5 units of useful heat or 2 to 4 units of useful cooling from one unit of input energy. They are not only highly efficient, but also are the perfect component for the integrated and smart energy system of the future as they can be combined with renewable power, electric and thermal storage, and utilize waste heat. Heat pumps can be part of smart grids and provide demand side management services for a more flexible power system, too.

The technological potential of heat pumps is beyond doubt. What is most important now is to make this potential more widely known and to create the market and policy framework conditions that enable its application. This is where advanced experiences from Germany and Europe about the promotion and deployment of heat pumps could help China tap the potential of heat pumps to cut emissions. Therefore, Ms. Yin Yuxia, project director of the Sino-German Energy Partnership, GIZ, presented German and European experiences on promoting deployment of heat pump technology in Germany and Europe at the China Heat Pump Annual Conference, sharing about lessons learnt and best practices regarding supporting policy frameworks and the important role that Germany foresees for heat pumps in its own decarbonization efforts.

Sino-German cooperation on heat pump

The Sino-German Energy Partnership is committed to continuously supporting the promotion and utilization of heat pumps, an energy-saving and emission-reducing heating technology, in China. In addition to co-drafting the White Paper on Heat Pumps for Carbon Neutrality (2021), the project has undertaken or plans to undertake further collaborations with heat pump industry associations, enterprises, etc., this includes, among others:

  • Aligning heat pump industry standards by participating in the drafting and supporting the involvement of German companies and experts so that the resulting association standard could incorporate German and European best practices and experiences on heat pump standardization. Read more here
  • Preparing a project under Germany’s “DeveloPPP” Program, jointly implemented with German companies to showcase and support the development of heat pumps in China. The project is planned to be launched in the early 2022.

To support China continuously and sustainably to further develop the heat pump industry, the Energy Partnership plans to expand cooperation on the topic. This includes the promotion of integration of heat pumps and other renewable energy sources, capacity building and improvements to efficiency standards so that they reflect the entire heating system instead of individual technologies. These will be continuously pushed forward in close partnership with German and Chinese businesses.


The White Paper on Heat Pumps for Carbon Neutrality (Chinese only) is availble to download by

  1.  Following the Wechat public account of CHPA (Wechat ID: CECA_CHPIA)
  2.  Click 白皮书 (White Paper)on the menu bar

White Paper on Heat Pumps for Carbon Neutrality (2021) released

Ms. Yin Yuxia, project director of the Sino-German Energy Partnership, GIZ, introducing the experience of promoting deployment of heat pump technology in Germany and Europe at the China Heat Pump Annual Conference.