Thomas Nowak, secretary general of the European Heat Pump Association and co-organiser of the first DecarbCities conference, said: “Decarbonisation of cities is indispensable for the decarbonisation of society.

“The good thing is that we have the technologies available to fully decarbonise cities by 2050 – that is the key outcome of the presentations given today at the DecarbCities conference in Vienna.

“If industry and policy makers pull on the same string, I am sure that we can make it.”

The event triggered discussions on major aspects such as the role of city planning, digitalisation, gas infrastructure and hybrids.

Challenges and solutions at city level were showcased, and the Heat Pump City of the Year award was handed to Veere, the Netherlands, as the most innovative city.

A representative of the Austrian government strongly backed the industry initiative.

Secretary general Josef Plank stated that the upcoming EU presidency would be fully behind the Paris climate agreement during negotiations on the clean energy package, and would further support the inclusion of ambitious targets on heating and cooling among the priorities of the next European Commission, after the 2019 European elections.