China Issues Action Plan to Promote Development of the Heat Pump Industry
2 April 2025 - China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Transport, and National Energy Administration jointly released the Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of the Heat Pump Industry.
The Action Plan aims to advance the high-quality development of China’s heat pump industry in order to promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in key sectors and support the growth of green and low-carbon industries.
The Action Plan lists the key targets of raising the energy efficiency of key heat pump products by at least 20% and achieving breakthroughs in core technologies, including high-power and high-temperature heat pumps, high-efficiency compressors, and next-generation refrigerants.The Action Plan lays out actions topromote heat pump applications in key sectors, including the construction, industry, agriculture, and transportation sectors. For instance, the Action Plan calls for applying heat pump technology to intelligent thermal management in electric vehicles in the transportation sector.
Additional highlights from the Action plan include:
- Heat pump inspection and replacement: Conduct comprehensive inspection and assessments of heat pump equipment that has been in operation for over 10 years, and phase out the obsolete, inefficient units.
- Refrigerant transition: Guide heat pump manufacturers to accelerate the phaseout of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), restrict the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and support research and development on next-generation low global-warming-potential (GWP) refrigerants, including natural refrigerants and HFOs. Strictly control refrigerant leakage and emissions during the production and consumption processes, and promote refrigerant recycling and safe disposal.
- Standardization: Establish astandardization system governing the design, production, testing, installation, operation, maintenance, and recycling of heat pumps. This includes introducing standards forheat pumps using natural refrigerants and potentially adding GWP information to heat-pump energy-efficiency labels.
- International cooperation: Showcase China’s advanced heat-pump technologies and case studies at global platforms, including Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Meetings of the Parties (MOPs) to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
Additional IGSD resources:
- IGSD, China Issues Amended Regulation to Strengthen Its HFC Phasedown (5 January 2024); IGSD’s annotated, English reference translation of the Regulation on the Administration of Ozone-Depleting Substances is available here.
- IGSD, HFC-23 China Policy Brief (22 October 2024).
- IGSD, China Policy Developments Provide Opportunities to Tackle Lifecycle Refrigerant Management in the Cooling Equipment End-of-Life Recycling and Disposal Processes (27 July 2024).
- IGSD, China Strengthens Control of HFC Production for Kigali Amendment Implementation (8 July 2024).
