Greater Manchester and Daikin sign landmark 5-year deal to accelerate low-carbon heating
Brussels, 1 July 2025 – Daikin, a global leader in heat pump technology, and Greater Manchester signed a landmark five-year collaboration agreement aimed at scaling up low-carbon heating across the city-region and delivering on its 2038 carbon neutrality target.
The signing took place at the UK Pavilion inside World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, marking a proud moment of international cooperation on a global stage. Greater Manchester is one of the UK’s most successful city-regions, home to more than 2.8 million people and with an economy bigger than that of Wales or Northern Ireland.
Collaboration extended by five years
The collaboration agreement will last for up to five years, following the success of the two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between GMCA and Daikin, which focused on decarbonisation and the transition to low-carbon heating, developing green skills and jobs for Greater Manchester residents, supporting communities through practical action and outreach, as well as driving innovation and industry leadership in heat pump deployment.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester: “Daikin has played a significant role in our journey to make Greater Manchester a greener, more sustainable place to live. Our partnership has delivered low-carbon heating technology through the installation of 1,500 heat pumps, while educating our young people about sustainable technologies and boosting our green skills offering. We’ve already achieved a great deal together, and we’re excited to continue building on that strong foundation. Daikin’s ongoing investment in skills, innovation and low-carbon technology is exactly the kind of partnership we need to help drive lasting change in Greater Manchester. We look forward to continuing our work with Daikin as they grow their presence in Greater Manchester.”
Low-Carbon Heating Industry Advisory Group
Under this renewed partnership, Daikin UK will chair Greater Manchester’s newly formed Low Carbon Heating Industry Advisory Group, bringing together businesses and policymakers to strengthen collaboration across the region’s green economy, tackle decarbonisation challenges, and help shape Greater Manchester’s journey to net zero.
Achievements thus far
The ongoing and recently extended collaboration has already brought many concrete actions and results in Greater Manchester over the past two years (February 2023–February 2025). We delivered nearly GBP 0.5 million worth of social value to the city-region through projects focused on innovative technology deployment, upskilling and retraining, curriculum development, heat pump awareness sessions and supporting the tackling of homelessness.
Forward plan - steps towards 2030
Building on the strong foundation established over the past two years, Daikin intends to do even more over the next five years considering GMCA’s target to be carbon neutral by 2038. The renewed commitment focuses on:
- Transition to low-carbon heating: Target: Install 64,000 low-carbon heating systems across Greater Manchester between 2025-2030. Use national policy support changes for heat pumps locally: e.g. the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). Create a first-of-a-kind heat pump leasing offer for Greater Manchester residents, avoiding the need for upfront costs. Explore the potential for air-to-air heat pump deployment once included as an eligible measure under BUS. Daikin will also continue to raise heat pump awareness during installation programmes for Local Authorities or social housing landlords.
- Developing green skills and jobs for Greater Manchester residents: Daikin is investing in a new training centre to open in summer 2025, which will bring training capacity up from 1,400 people to 4,200 annually. Offering spots to people who meet the prerequisite qualifications but don’t have the means to fund themselves to do the course. Hiring apprentices up to 2030 in line with volume of work in the region. Daikin also offers the ‘Train the Green Trainer’ programme to further support tutors in keeping up with advancements in heat pump technology.
- Supporting communities through practical action and outreach: Daikin is helping GMCA to tackle homelessness in the region and will support the Embassy Village project. Oversee the installation of the 40 heat pumps already donated in partnership with Temperature Control, provide heat pump bootcamp training to residents as well as mentoring and volunteering by Daikin’s Manchester team.
- Driving innovation and industry leadership in heat pump deployment: Daikin will connect at least 170 heat pumps in Greater Manchester’s social housing through the 5G Innovation Region funding by March 2026, embed tariff support and connectivity into any social housing contract for heat pumps and work with energy providers to launch a heat pump type-of-use tariff for Daikin and promote this to the connected homes.
Tomoji Miki, Managing Director of Daikin UK, said, “The MoU between Daikin and Greater Manchester Combined Authority has shown the power of collaboration. Over the past two years, we’ve advanced decarbonisation and tackled the skills gap crucial for the net zero transition. Daikin is committed to Greater Manchester’s 2038 carbon neutrality target and supporting the region through innovation and investment.”
About Daikin Industries Ltd.
Daikin Industries (DIL) is a global leader in heat pump, air conditioning and air filtration technology. The company employees over 100,000 employees worldwide. Founded in Osaka in 1924, it is the only manufacturer in the world that develops and manufactures heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration equipment, as well as compressors and refrigerants in-house. Daikin was named one of the world’s top 100 most innovative companies by Clarivate (UK) and LexisNexis (USA), recognized for its leadership in technology research and intellectual property patents. For its fiscal year 2024 Daikin reported a record sales result of € 28,98 billion sales (1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025). Read more on www.daikin.com.
About Daikin Europe N.V.
Daikin Europe is a leading provider of heating, cooling, ventilation, air purification and refrigeration (HVAC-R) technology in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Daikin Europe caters to a diverse customer base within this region by designing, manufacturing, and marketing an extensive range of products, maintenance services, and turnkey solutions tailored for residential, commercial, and industrial applications. The company employs over 13,800 employees through 58 subsidiaries and operates 15 manufacturing sites in Europe (12), Turkey (1) and the Middle East (2). Daikin’s refrigeration products are available under the Daikin, Tewis, Zanotti, Hubbard (UK-based manufacturing), and AHT brands. Headquartered in Ostend, Belgium, for over 50 years, the Daikin Europe group is a subsidiary of the global group Daikin Industries. Read more on www.daikin.eu.
Media Contacts Daikin Europe N.V.
Sofie Sap
Daisuke Kakinaga