Sustainable Neighbourhood Heating and Cooling Networks: Investment Plans and Business Models for Decarbonising Existing Buildings
New Construction & Renovation Consulting Machbarkeitsstudien Zieldefinition für nachhaltige und energieeffiziente Gebäude Lebenszykluskosten Förderberatung Energy Innovations & Demonstration Projects Lifecycle Costs & Economic Efficiency Smart Cities & Energy Concepts Energy Services & Business Models Policy Advice & Energy Economics International Projects & Technical Assistance
Project partners
Project description
The HeaTogether project aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of heating and cooling supply in dense urban areas by advancing an underused solution: neighbourhood heating and cooling (H&C) networks. These are low-temperature or anergy grids serving multiple buildings and supplied by locally available renewable energy sources such as shallow geothermal energy, ambient heat, groundwater, solar thermal energy, waste heat, or PV-powered heat pumps. Positioned between large district heating systems and individual building solutions, neighbourhood H&C networks offer a scalable “gap filler” technology that can unlock significant carbon savings where conventional approaches reach their limits.
Today, existing district heating systems in many European cities are operating close to their technical capacity, rely heavily on fossil fuels, and are difficult to expand into medium- and low-density urban structures. At the same time, individual heating systems in these neighbourhoods often face spatial, technical, and economic barriers to decarbonisation. Neighbourhood H&C networks can bridge this gap by pooling heat sources, sharing infrastructure, improving cost efficiency through economies of scale, and enabling collective investment decisions.
HeaTogether directly addresses these challenges by supporting the development of implementable investment plans for neighbourhood H&C networks in at least 15 pioneer neighbourhoods across Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the Netherlands. The project builds on lessons from existing neighbourhood-scale solutions, identifies suitable neighbourhoods through technical and economic screenings as well as stakeholder engagement, and provides targeted expert support. This includes assistance in participatory processes, the development of organisational and financing models, and advisory on legal and regulatory compliance. The result will be robust, investment-ready concepts that can be implemented immediately after the project.
In parallel, HeaTogether establishes the foundation for wider European replication. Through capacity-building activities with cities and energy agencies, structured knowledge transfer, and high-impact communication actions, the project promotes the broader roll-out of neighbourhood H&C networks beyond the initial pilot regions. By equipping multipliers with skills and tools, HeaTogether ensures that the approach becomes scalable and actionable across Europe.
The project is expected to trigger up to €155 million in investment volume in the pioneer neighbourhoods alone and to achieve significant primary energy savings and decarbonisation impacts, with the potential to reduce emissions by up to 80% per neighbourhood. By focusing on existing building stocks in dense urban and suburban areas, HeaTogether contributes directly to improving energy security, reducing fossil-fuel dependency, and enabling cities and citizens to participate in the heat transition.
