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DRAFT REPORT (2023/2111(INI))

On geothermal energy

ITRE-PR-752863

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy · Rapporteur: Zdzisław Krasnodębski

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 30 Sept 2026

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This is a draft report by the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy on geothermal energy. It sets out policy recommendations on development and potential, data availability, funding, regulatory issues, skills, territories in transition and visibility. It calls on Member States to collect and publish geological data, fund resource mapping, map decommissioned wells, and overhaul geothermal statistics. It asks Member States to explore de-risking solutions and financial incentives for geothermal heat pumps, and the Commission to consider a dedicated geothermal fund. It calls on Member States to simplify mining laws or develop dedicated permitting rules, and on the Commission to provide guidelines. It highlights skills shortages and the need for support for next-generation geothermal technologies and conformity assessment of imported heat pumps. It calls for re-skilling in transition areas and measures to raise the visibility of geothermal and overcome public resistance.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes a draft resolution with policy recommendations on geothermal energy, covering development, data, funding, regulation, skills, transition territories and visibility, and calls for a European strategy and an EU-wide atlas.

Key points

  1. Notes that technology development has broadened the area suitable for cost-efficient geothermal projects, stressing the potential of low-temperature, shallow resources available in all Member States.
  2. Welcomes geothermal development beyond power and heating and cooling, including lithium extraction from geothermal brines, and draws attention to geothermal storage of excess wind and solar power.
  3. Notes the potential of cascaded use and stresses the need for cross-industry synergies between geothermal and other sectors.
  4. Highlights that 151 businesses and industries called on the Commission in 2022 to prepare a European strategy for geothermal energy.
  5. Stresses that measures should be based on an assessment of Europe's geothermal potential and cost-efficiency, and welcomes national roadmaps, proposing a 'geothermal alliance' for information exchange.
  6. Urges Member States to collect and publish geological data, fund resource mapping and exploratory drilling, and calls for EU funding for an EU-wide atlas of geothermal potential.
  7. Emphasises the potential of repurposed inactive oil and gas wells and calls on Member States to produce publicly available maps of decommissioned wells.
  8. Expresses concern about fragmented geothermal statistics and calls on Member States, industry and the Commission to overhaul data collection and replicate best practices.
  9. Calls on Member States to explore de-risking solutions and financial incentives for geothermal heat pumps, and on the Commission to consider a dedicated geothermal fund.
  10. Calls on Member States to review and simplify mining laws or develop dedicated permitting rules, asks the Commission for guidelines, and notes permits should be extensible to lithium extraction or hydrogen production.
  11. Expresses concern over staff shortages causing delays, stresses support for next-generation technologies, and highlights concerns over imported heat pump conformity, suggesting third-party assessment.
  12. Calls on Member States to fund re-skilling in transition areas, and draws attention to online mapping and high environmental and transparency standards to overcome public resistance.

Who is affected

  • Member States: urged to collect and publish geological data, simplify mining laws, explore de-risking solutions and fund re-skilling.
  • The Commission: asked to provide guidelines, consider a dedicated geothermal fund and take geothermal into account in existing funds.
  • Oil and gas companies: called on to cooperate in producing maps of decommissioned wells and to be involved in geothermal exploration.
  • The geothermal industry: affected by data collection overhaul, funding and skills measures.
  • Local residents: may face noise, traffic or environmental hazards, and are targeted by transparency and consultation measures.

Figures and deadlines

  • more than 25 % of the heating and cooling consumed in Europe could be supplied by geothermal, per industry estimates.
  • over 10 % of Europe's electrical power could be supplied by geothermal, per industry estimates.
  • 151 business and industries called on the Commission in 2022 for a European geothermal strategy.
  • failure rates for geothermal wells range from less than 10 percent in Hungary and Germany to 30 percent in the Netherlands, according to Rystad.
  • EUR 91,6 million grant from the European Innovation Fund to Eavor's next-generation geothermal project.
  • over 141,300 new geothermal heat pump systems installed in the EU in 2022.

Legal basis: Article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.