Heat pump manufacturer: Clear commitment to climate change!

Heat pump manufacturer: Clear commitment to climate change!

"I'm optimistic. There's no point in moping around. I expect things to noticeably improve again in 2026." The statement by Richard Freimüller, President of the Heat Pump Austria industry association, illustrates in a few words the current mood among domestic heat pump manufacturers: a subdued mood in view of the current situation combined with hope for better times in the coming year.

Minus 20 percent

The mood is understandable: According to Heat Pump Austria estimates, sales of heat pumps in Austria will fall by 20 percent this year. “I hope we stay above 40,000 units, but it doesn’t look good,” says association president Freimüller. Helmut Weinwurm, Bosch's Austrian boss, assumes a decline to 35,000 to 38,000. In 2024 there were still 46,000 devices sold. In 2022, the best year, the industry even sold 60,000 devices. That is exactly the number that would be needed to quickly advance the decarbonization of the building sector. Freimüller: “If we installed 60,000 heat pumps per year, decarbonization would be achieved by 2040.”

However, this would require clear political will and reliable guidelines.  Needs – the subjunctive is currently used frequently in the industry. The mood of companies is significantly influenced by the actions of domestic politics - or more precisely: by the erratic actions. The government is responsible for the slump in the current financial year, as it abruptly stopped the “Out of Oil and Gas” funding program at the end of 2024, which should have run until 2027. The result: “Consumers are unsettled and are waiting,” says Bosch Austria boss Weinwurm. “It would be important for everyone – consumers, manufacturers and specialist trades – to have a predictable and reliable funding policy.” As I said: subjunctive. “The reluctance to buy is clearly noticeable because there is a lack of orientation and clear framework conditions,” adds Martin Hagleitner, CEO of Austria Email.

"We only expect one thing from politics: continuity instead of stop-and-go. It is understandable that funding will be reduced or ended when the general conditions become more difficult," says Christian Hofer, Managing Director of Hoval Austria. “However, if old mistakes are repeated – something like announcing that there will be subsidies again next year, which further stifles the market – then that is disappointing.”

At least there is some improvement in sight: the government recently announced a new funding program. It wants to support boiler replacement with around 1.5 billion euros by 2030. That would be 300 million euros per year. “This is a clear time horizon and makes planning much more reliable,” praises Stiebel Eltron Austria Managing Director Thomas Mader. The industry hopes that the first funding applications can be submitted next November or December.

From the industry's perspective, how effective the new program will be depends largely on how the details are defined. This is supposed to happen on October 3rd. At the time this article went to press, the resolutions had not yet been made. From the point of view of Heat Pump Austria boss Freimüller, the subsidies per device should not be too high: “If each device is subsidized with 10,000 euros, then the pot will be empty after 30,000 devices and we will de facto have a subsidy stop again in the middle of the year.” He therefore prefers support between 5,000 and 7,000 euros per device. “That would correspond to the regulation from 2022 – our best year.”

The industry representative would also like to see a stricter approach to the processing of funding. In the past, applicants were able to apply for funding without being obliged to actually implement their plans. The result: “In 2024 we had 44,000 approved funding applications, but no one knows whether the devices will actually be installed,” says Freimüller. His demand: "After registration, the applicant should be given a deadline, for example one month, within which he must submit an order. If he does not do this, the registration expires. The funds are released for another applicant." Bosch Austria boss Weinwurm is brief here. He hopes that “the funding will be set up fairly and reliably”.

The industry doesn't expect any miracles for 2026, but given the new funding program and the gradual recovery in residential construction, an improvement compared to 2025. "I expect sales of 45,000 to 46,000 systems. 60,000 is illusory - but I still see it as positive. If the new program is approved, we will have five years of planning," says industry representative Freimüller. Austria Email boss Hagleitner sees it similarly: “If clear framework conditions and regulations apply with regard to 2026 and the following years, heating renovation with renewable energies will gain significant momentum again in the interest of protecting the climate and living space.”

Andreas Grimm, Head of Product Market Management for Heating Technology at Hoval Austria, expresses himself differently. He expects a “mixed market environment in 2026 in which the question of costs will play a central role.” Particularly in the power range over 50 kilowatts, Grimm continued, “we expect increases that are already evident in above-average supply activity.”

Manufacturers are optimistic about the long-term trend towards decarbonization, which is helping the heat pump business. “We are convinced that climate-friendly heat pumps are the heating system of the future – and a decisive factor for Europe’s energy transition,” says Almir Karagic, who is responsible for private customers at Daikin Austria. More than 500,000 Austrian households currently use a heat pump. Daikin expects more than one million systems to be installed by 2035.

For this forecast to come true, politicians need a clear commitment to green transformation. And here some representatives of the industry have certain doubts - and rightly so. In its government program, the government is sticking to the goal of climate neutrality by 2040. However, this commitment is missing in the current draft of the climate law. Comment from Heat Pumps Austria President Freimüller: “It’s a constant back and forth. You hardly know your way around anymore.”

Stiebel Eltron Austria managing director Mader wants more courage from the government. What is currently being discussed in the areas of climate and economic policy is “too well-behaved and not innovative enough”. Austria is in danger of missing its climate targets - with expensive long-term consequences: If Austria has to buy CO₂ certificates at some point because targets have not been achieved, that would be “counterproductive”. Instead, real economic impulses are needed that at the same time secure domestic value creation. Mader: “The heat pump industry is strongly anchored in Austria and offers enormous potential for the economy and the environment.”

For him, a combination of targeted funding and clear legal requirements would be effective: “You can now try incentives – but if the exchange rate remains too low, you could create a legal framework.” Specifically: The government could decide on a timetable in which it is clearly communicated that boiler replacement is mandatory from a certain point onwards. “Anyone who invests today should know that the switch is not only encouraged, but will also be mandatory in the medium term,” says Mader. “But it is also necessary for the government to seriously focus again on the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2040.”

Austria Email CEO Hagleitner also has clear ideas about what should be done. “What politics has still owed Austrians to this day is planning security, clear framework conditions and long-term orientation,” he criticizes. “We have repeatedly made suggestions to politicians as to what mix of measures and reforms can be used to increase the renovation rate, and thus the economy, with far less funding and with effective incentives.” Hagleitner refers to a “finished package with a bundle of measures that can be implemented quickly, which also have a budget-friendly effect on the state budget.”  It has been “on the table for a long time on the part of the industry”. The Austria Email boss continued: “There must be accompanying reforms in tenancy and housing law, as well as targeted incentives and binding requirements, in addition to significantly higher accuracy, efficiency and meaningfulness of funding.”

From Hagleitner's point of view, measures to stimulate the economy are not enough. He sees a great need for structural reforms. He considers the government's previously announced measures to strengthen the business location to be “inadequate”. These are "first steps in the right direction, but there is no sign of a major liberation. Because they do not do justice to the dramatic situation in our country and are not sufficient for a real turnaround. Hagleitner is clear: "Our industrial location, and with it Austria's prosperity, is in acute danger. We have moved far away from a competitive level in recent years."