Some things are easier to change than others - and the really hard things often don’t require money, but a change in people!
Edit: Sorry for the shitty OP, I should have known better than to post in a hurry.
It reads as if the population is primarily responsible for combating the climate crisis, while industry and government are off the hook because money has little effect.
What I actually meant to express was that technological adjustments that only cost money are easier to implement than changes to people’s habits. Perhaps this is a naive idea because it assumes that there is the political will to make these investments and that the industry is forced to cooperate accordingly. Addressing the climate crisis requires many changes, and economic profitability must be secondary. But achieving this is perhaps one of the most difficult adjustments society requires.
And older multi-story apartment buildings are often practically impossible to switch to heat pumps. These older buildings make up a vast majority of european city dwellings. All you can realistically do is update insulation and the central heating system to be more efficient, but decarbonizing the latter—I don’t even know if there are heat pump based solutions that can heat water to 50…60°C needed if it gets to -20°C and colder. And if there is, installing it would be a nightmare.
Individual heat pumps for each apartment? Where to put the 2 to 4 external heat exchangers per apartment that is needed? If they’re on the walls 30 meters from ground how do you have access to them for deicing if they clog up with snow and ice? If they’re on rooftops you need mighty long piping to lower floors.
Heat pumps are awesome, but for apartment buildings you have to plan them in from the beginning.