Changes from plenary report to adopted text

16. Calls on the Commission to base the strategy on a comprehensive assessment of the potential of geothermal energy in the shallow, medium, deep, and ultra-deep subsurface across all 27 Member States; notes that this assessment should help identify the potential of geothermal energy for various uses, including but not limited to, district heating, cooling, industrial processes, food production, heat pumps, electricity generation, and renewable hydrogen and lithium production; notes that this study should also assess the impact of developing geothermal energy on the decarbonisation of the economy, job creation, competitiveness, empowering of consumers, and cost-effectiveness compared to other energy sources;

17. Calls on the Commission to address in the strategy the obstacles for the development of geothermal projects, including cross-borders issues and to provide a guide on best practices in geothermal energy use in the EU for national and local authorities, project developers, and financial institutions;

18. Welcomes the growing awareness of, and support for, geothermal at national level; asks the Member States to follow the example of countries that have developed geothermal roadmaps, targets and dedicated policy measures for geothermal; stresses the need to facilitate the exchange of information about these measures and data to support geothermal policies and to promote existing best practices and knowledge sharing;

19. Calls on the Commission to establish a ‘geothermal alliance’, including Member States, geothermal adoption enablers, industry, the scientific community and civil society that would facilitate the exchange of best practices and to implement the future geothermal strategy;

20. Asks the Commission to explore the potential of geothermal energy to contribute to objectives production of clean hydrogen established in the REPowerEU plan;

Geothermal district heating and cooling

21. Underlines the need to modernise existing heating and cooling networks and build new ones using the potential of geothermal energy; calls on the Commission and the Member States to create strong incentives to support the above and to favour 4th and 5th generation heating and cooling systems; notes that the development of heating and cooling networks is integral to the preparation of comprehensive municipal heating plans, as required by the Energy Efficiency Directive, and is aligned with the objectives of national energy and climate plans; calls on the Commission to provide the Member States with guidelines for the preparation of these plans, including for the assessment of geothermal potential;

22. Welcomes the growing number of projects involving conversion of existing district heating and cooling (DHC) infrastructure into geothermal-based DHC; emphasises in particular the potential of such conversions in Central and Eastern European countries, where they can significantly contribute to decarbonisation policies; stresses that these actions should be broadly supported by the Modernisation, Just Transition and Cohesion Funds; calls for investments supported by the Modernisation Fund, which support the conversion of exiting district heating systems, to always consider the potential for geothermal energy to be supplied to such systems;

23. Expresses concern that all too often the development of geothermal projects is prevented or significantly delayed by the lack of developed district heating and cooling networks; stresses the need to ensure coordination between energy companies and local authorities to jointly plan, invest and manage district heating and cooling networks;

24. Draws attention to the fact that some of recent geothermal DHC projects have been implemented with new business models allowing private companies, including utility companies, to build public infrastructure on behalf of local authorities; invites Member States to explore innovative regulatory possibilities to foster the development of geothermal DHC;

25. Highlights the importance of making data available from existing district heating networks, including the level of modernisation and heat demand, to geothermal stakeholders across Europe; underscores that this data is crucial to evaluating the potential of a region and engage with local authorities throughout the initial stages of a project; calls on the Commission to facilitate and coordinate the availability of existing DHC data;

Data availability

26. Notes the lack of easy access to subsurface data is currently an important barrier to de-risking and thereby the fast deployment of geothermal energy projects; underscores that easy and equitable access to subsurface data in Member States is crucial for the project appraisal phase; underlines, furthermore, that this lack of data access prevents scientists from creating the geological models that are essential to predict the potential and yield of geothermal energy in a given subsurface area and are thus crucial in reducing uncertainty for project developers;

27. Urges the Member States and the Commission to explore methods of collecting different types of geological data from public and private entities with a view to organising, systematising and making it available to the public by expanding existing basic geological databases using the digital formats for collection of the data and making it available; notes that this should be achieved in compliance with applicable rules on data protection, on protection of commercially sensitive data, including the protection of trade secrets, and the protection of intellectual property rights, as well as security considerations and, where necessary, include incentives or compensation for data sharing by private entities; expresses opinion that publicly funded geological data needed for geothermal projects (such as those obtained due to public support received for exploratory drilling) should be made available to the public within a short period of time set by the Member State concerned; draws attention to the fact that in some Member States geological data held by private entities is made available free of charge to the public after a certain period of time;

28. Urges the Commission to explore the benefits of and barriers to harmonising national legislation on granting access to subsurface data and the storing of geological data on a centralised portal at the EU level that is freely and easily accessible to all;

29. Stresses that in areas with insufficient subsurface data, governments can play a role in funding geothermal resource mapping and exploratory drilling; welcomes the fact that some Member States have already taken steps in this direction; calls on the Commission to continue supporting this data collection through relevant projects, such as European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI), which aims to create a EU-wide atlas of geothermal resources; highlights the relevance of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS), which can provide reliable land temperature data, which is particularly useful for surface geothermal energy;

30. Emphasises the geothermal potential of repurposing inactive oil and gas wells and mines; calls on the Member States, in cooperation with oil, gas and coal companies, to prepare public inventories and maps, including specifications, of depleted, abandoned and end-of-life hydrocarbon infrastructure that has the potential to be used as a geothermal resource; stresses the need to prioritise funds to carry out detailed studies of the conditions of this infrastructure in order to assess the potential of each site;

31. Expresses its concern about the fragmented nature of statistics on geothermal energy; stresses that it is very difficult to assess deployment of geothermal energy in Europe because of the lack of standards for industry data reporting; calls on the Member States, in cooperation with the industry and the Commission, to overhaul existing statistical data collecting procedures for geothermal and to replicate best practices in the sector by creating standards for industry data reporting;

Funding

32. Reiterates that uncertainty about subsurface resources makes it challenging to secure project funding; notes that the initial project phase, such as the exploration and construction phase, requires a significant amount of upfront costs and major entrepreneurial risks that hinder the investment decision calls on the Member States to explore financial de-risking solutions appropriate to the maturity of their local markets, such as grants, loans that are convertible to grants, state-backed guarantees, exploration insurance and hedging mechanisms, notes examples of risk coverage mechanisms that are backed up not only by public funds but also by contributions from the private sector; notes, in this regard, that an EU financial risk mitigation scheme would be particularly useful for the least mature markets in the geothermal sector; notes the importance of other de-risking measures such as granting easy access to subsurface data, sharing best practices on new types of business models offering synergies between public and private funding;

33. Expresses concern that high upfront drilling and installation costs tend to discourage the selection of geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) in favour of less efficient technological solutions; calls on the Member States to explore possible financial incentives to bridge this gap, including through ‘pay as you save’ (PAYS) financing models; calls on the Commission to address this issue in the upcoming EU heat pump action plan;

34. Stresses that high upfront costs are stunting the growth of geothermal energy, particularly for actors with limited financial resources, making them to favour investments that are more profitable in the short term, but offer lower environmental sustainability; calls on the Commission to take appropriate steps to ensure that geothermal projects are better taken into account when using existing European funds and instruments; asks the Commission to dedicate resources under existing funds to support exploration, development, modernisation of geothermal projects, particularly based on innovative technologies, and reskilling and upskilling of workers;

Regulatory issues

35. Stresses that faster permitting rules for geothermal, in compliance with existing EU environmental legislation, would facilitate the deployment of geothermal energy projects across the EU; notes that deep geothermal energy projects are currently subject to laws designed for large-scale mining projects, which are difficult to comply with, particularly for smaller-scale geothermal projects; calls therefore on the Member States to review existing mining laws in order to better reflect the specificity of geothermal projects and to develop dedicated permitting rules for geothermal, while taking into account the fact that different geothermal technologies have significantly different impacts and risks for the geology and environment; asks the Commission to provide guidelines to ensure the requisite level of coherence, similar to the approach taken for the regulatory framework supporting CO2 storage (Directive 2009/31/EC);

36. Draws attention to the fact that in some Member States project assessment deadlines are rooted in the tacit approval principle under clearly defined conditions unless a reply is required by EU or national law; calls on Member States to explore the benefits of, and barriers to, applying this principle to geothermal projects and to consider its introduction in their legislation;

37. Expresses concern that geothermal projects encounter lengthy permitting processes; urges the Member States to create more efficient streamlined and digitalised permitting processes for new geothermal projects and for the expansion of existing facilities, including by creating a one-stop shop – where this has not been done already – for the whole permitting process across authorities and to provide support for local authorities to ensure their workforce is adequately skilled; believes that these one-stop shops should also promote information sharing about funding opportunities collected by the Commission via a centralised portal;

38. Notes the differences between geothermal exploitation in urban and rural settings; draws attention to the specificity of urban geothermal heating projects and calls on the Member States to develop more efficient and streamlined permitting procedures for geothermal heating projects, including facilitating access to urban plots suitable for geothermal plants; calls, therefore, on the Commission to issue recommendations to distribution system operators on the modalities of working with local authorities to establish local heating and cooling plans with a focus on geothermal energy, in order to facilitate the integration of geothermal energy use in both urban management plans and modern approaches to underground space management;

39. Notes that permits for geothermal installations must be made easier for project promoters to expand to cover the extraction of raw materials or the production of hydrogen from existing capacity under the same lease;

40. Calls on the Commission to issue guidance for permitting agencies on best practices about managing shallow geothermal permitting applications and potential interference with drinking water to accelerate the permitting process while ensuring the full application of environmental standards;

41. Regrets that a life-cycle analysis is being applied to geothermal energy but not to other renewables, which contradicts the technology-neutral approach of the Taxonomy Regulation, reduces the considerable potential of geothermal energy as a contribution to decarbonisation, especially in heat supply, and exposes it to unequal competitive conditions to other renewable energy sources; calls, therefore, on the Commission to review the classification of geothermal energy applications in the taxonomy provisions in order to put geothermal on an equal regulatory footing with wind and solar;

42. Stresses that geothermal should have the same regulatory status, including in EU procurement, as already exists for other renewables, and in the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, as well as in any subsequent measures;

Workforce, training and skills

43. Expresses its concern over the reported backlogs and delays in the installation of GHPs, the drilling of wells and the granting of the requisite permissions owing to a shortage of qualified staff; highlights that the need for a skilled workforce will further increase in future and urges the Member States, in collaboration with industry and, where appropriate, with trade unions, to step up measures for the skilling and reskilling of specialists for geothermal since having an adequate pool of workers will be critical to meeting the objectives for geothermal deployment;

44. Calls on the Member States to ensure that certification schemes or equivalent qualification schemes are available, particularly for installers of small-scale shallow geothermal systems and heat pumps;

45. Notes that only a limited number of university courses are dedicated to geothermal energy and are of short duration and optional, with the majority of classes offered only covering basic skills; therefore encourages the Member States to cooperate with educational establishments with a view to updating and strengthening degrees dedicated to geothermal energy so as to adequately train the future generations of workers in the sector; welcomes projects supported by Erasmus+ to remedy the lack of qualified junior graduates in the geothermal energy value chain, such as the Geo3En programme, which aims to lay the foundations for a future Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in geothermal engineering; underlines, that the geothermal industry needs to raise awareness among students, and teaching staff about the geothermal sector and the career opportunities it offers;

Technology development

46. Stresses that while the EU is the leader in geothermal research and development, high-value patents, publications and manufacturing, support measures for next-generation geothermal technologies are needed at European and national level in order to maintain this position, particularly in geothermal storage and industrial applications;

48. Underlines, in particular, the importance of underground pumped hydroelectric and thermal storage projects; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support R&D in these solutions and to implement large-scale pilot plants; asks for broader support for these projects, particularly those developed on a basis of decommissioned mines and quarries that can be converted into water reservoirs, in calls of EU Innovation Fund and Horizon Europe framework, since this solution can be a vital piece in development of decarbonised electricity systems;

49. Highlights that some Member States have expressed concerns over the lack of conformity of some imported heat pumps to their declared energy efficiency status; stresses that third-party conformity assessment (instead of self-declaration) should be discussed as part of the revision of the ecodesign energy labelling rules;

Territories in transition

50. Stresses that the exploitation of geothermal potential, in particular for district heating, is one of the natural resources that can contribute to a just energy transition in the affected areas by offsetting job losses, as mines and other extractive facilities close, eradicating energy poverty, and strengthening the self-sufficiency of local communities and their administrations by reducing their dependence on energy imports;

51. Regrets that the potential of repurposing for geothermal applications of depleted, abandoned and end-of-life hydrocarbon reservoirs as well as oil and gas wells is not being fully tapped;

52. Draws attention to existing repurposing projects in decommissioned mines, where applied cavern thermal energy storage technology is able to provide heating or cooling; notes the development of projects which plan to use oil reservoirs for geothermal energy storage; takes note of ongoing projects to repurpose decommissioned oil and gas wells for geothermal applications, thereby greatly reducing exploration risks and drilling costs;

53. Notes that many of these projects are being implemented by the fossil-fuel industry, which sees them as an opportunity to be part of the energy transition, and that there is a need for an even stronger, early involvement of this industry in exploring the potential for geothermal; stresses that early assessment of resources, while the mines are still accessible, ensures the more efficient development of their alternative use; notes that due consideration should be given to the liability regime;

54. Calls on the Member States to make use of existing European funding opportunities to support the re-skilling of the workforce in transition areas, with a view to capitalising on the jobs arising from geothermal projects; notes that oil and gas industry skills can be applied to and be highly valuable for the geothermal sector; stresses, therefore, the need to attract and support relevant workers to the geothermal sector, including by the creation of incentives and training programmes;

Visibility and public acceptance

56. Draws attention to the online mapping of existing geothermal installations in a given city or region as a good practice that can raise the visibility of geothermal solutions and help support public and private investment decisions;

57. Notes that public acceptance remains a challenge for geothermal projects, particularly on the basis of environmental concerns such as the possible interference with ground water, non-condensable gas emissions, over-exploitation of water resources, and seismic activity; recalls the importance of maintaining high environmental and scientific standards throughout all stages of geothermal energy projects and of taking a sustainable life-cycle assessment approach; stresses that strict observance of these requirements, transparency of the investment, greater stakeholder engagement, and involvement of local communities in the planning and implementation phases can serve as an efficient way of addressing public concerns and overcoming distrust; calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the geothermal industry and Member States, to develop guidelines and best practices for cooperation between project promoters and local authorities and communities in order to build trust, foster support and create mutually beneficial relationships;

International cooperation

58. Stresses the need to share best practices, technological know-how, results of research and innovation on geothermal technologies with partner countries and organisations that have already developed deep and surface geothermal energy on a larger scale or are in process of implementing ambitious plans to rapidly grow the geothermal energy sector;

59. Highlights the importance of inclusion of geothermal energy in the cooperation agenda with developing countries in a view of transfer of environmentally sound technologies, knowledge sharing and capacity building to meet growing energy demand;

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60. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.