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With warmer climate conditions, the growing need to cool down building environment in Europe calls for efficient solutions to solve the heating and cooling demand altogether. To meet such requirement, the bi-directional fifth generation district heating and cooling (5GDHC) system has been proposed in recent years, while having the capability of integrating the renewable and waste energy sources. The overlapping heating and cooling demand, or referred to as the simultaneous demand, is proved as the key pre-requisite to guide the application of 5GDHC through several case studies. However, how large is this overlapping part in the practical building stock and where are the feasible areas for 5GDHC remain unclear. To close the gap, this study assesses the quantities and geographical distributions of overlapping heating and cooling demand across Europe in EU 27, UK, and EFTA countries. Using GIS-based …