Energy Poverty in the EU Energy-Climate Acquis: Getting From Cold Laws to Warm Homes (original) (raw)
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Shedding Light: Unveiling the Dynamics of Energy Poverty in the EU
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More than 10.5% of the population of the European Union (EU) struggled with inadequate home heating in 2023. This is a worrying escalation on previous years (+3.7 percentage points since 2021), with some countries reaching as high as 20%. At the same time 3% of EU citizens were affected by long-term persistent energy poverty, primarily challenged by utility bill arrears and difficulties in heating their homes. Energy poverty affected households across all income levels, with some regions witnessing substantial challenges even among those in the middle and highest income brackets. This report provides disaggregated data and statistical analysis on energy poverty indicators across all EU Members States, regions and socioeconomic strata. The findings highlight the urgent need for targeted interventions to address the deep-rooted causes of energy poverty and to reduce its prevalence across the EU. As we intensify efforts to achieve the energy transition, these insights are crucial to ensure that no citizen is left behind in the pursuit of a sustainable and equitable energy future.
Confronting Energy Poverty in Europe: A Research and Policy Agenda
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This paper scrutinizes existing policy efforts to address energy poverty at the governance scale of the European Union (EU) and its constituent Member States. Our main starting point is the recent expansion of energy poverty policies at the EU level, fuelled by the regulatory provisions of the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package, as well as the establishment of an EU Energy Poverty Observatory. Aided by a systematic and customized methodology, we survey the extensive scientific body of work that has recently been published on the topic, as well as the multiple strategies and measures to address energy poverty that have been formulated across the EU. This includes the principal mitigation approaches adopted by key European and national institutions. We develop a framework to judge the distributional and procedural justice provisions within the recently adopted National Energy and Climate Plans, as an indicator of the power, ability and resolve of relevant institutions to combat th...
Energy poverty in the EU : indicators as a base for policy action
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In 2016, the European Commission presented the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package , comprising legislative proposals to facilitate the clean energy transition within the EU, such as the revised EPBD 2010/31/EU and EED 2012/27/EU.Besides putting energy efficiency first and achieving global leadership in renewable energy, a third goal of the package was to provide a "fair deal to consumers" with "no one left behind"., While in some Member States the issue of energy poverty already was on the political agenda, enabling affordable access to basic energy services for all households and thus reducing energy poverty is now an explicit policy target of the revised EU Directives. In order to assess and monitor the extent of the issue across the EU and address it by suitable measures, the concept of energy poverty needs to be defined, operationalised and measured. The paper aims to investigate the role of energy poverty indicators for policy making. To do so, it provid...
Energy poverty policies and measures in 5 EU countries: A comparative study
Energy and Buildings, 2019
Energy Poverty (EP) is the inability to attain a socially and materially necessitated level of domestic energy services. In the EU this occurs primarily due to low incomes, poor energy performance of buildings and high energy costs. The impacts of EP range from impaired social lives to unhealthy living conditions, with further consequences in the physical and mental health of energy poor individuals. Member states have been assigned by the EU with the responsibility of dealing with EP within their own territories. This is attainable mainly by creating effective policies, while also encouraging synergies among policies of different fields. However, scientific knowledge is gathered and action is taken on a national level only in a limited number of EU countries. For this reason, this paper aims to fill in the gap and capture snapshots from five EU countries (Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and Lithuania) where EP has not been exhaustively examined. The study provides an overview of selected policies and measures directly or indirectly targeting EP alleviation and analyses their history and evolution at an EU level as well as at national level. It considers the different geographical dimensions, conditions and aspects (e.g. national or regional) where EP is encountered, in an attempt to identify any variances or similarities in the approaches adopted. Through this comparative study, strengths and weaknesses of national strategies are identified and analysed. Conclusively, based on this analysis, recommendations are made on how to utilise policy tools and provide the most efficient support to energy poor households in the corresponding countries.
Rethinking the measurement of energy poverty in Europe: A critical analysis of indicators and data
Indoor and Built Environment, 2017
Energy poverty-which has also been recognised via terms such as 'fuel poverty' and 'energy vulnerability'-occurs when a household experiences inadequate levels of energy services in the home. Measuring energy poverty is challenging, as it is a culturally sensitive and private condition, which is temporally and spatially dynamic. This is compounded by the limited availability of appropriate data and indicators, and lack of consensus on how energy poverty should be conceptualised and measured. Statistical indicators of energy poverty are an important and necessary part of the research and policy landscape. They carry great political weight, and are often used to guide the targeting of energy poverty measures-due to their perceived objectivity-with important consequences for both the indoor and built environment of housing. Focussing on the European Union specifically, this paper critically assesses the available statistical options for monitoring energy poverty, whilst also presenting options for improving existing data. This is examined through the lens of vulnerability thinking, by considering the ways in which policies and institutions, the built fabric and everyday practices shape energy use, alongside the manner in which energy poor households experience and address the issue on a day-today basis.
Energies, 2020
Energy poverty—involving a combination of factors, such as low household incomes, high energy prices, and low levels of residential energy efficiency—is identified as a complex and increasing issue affecting people’s physical health, well-being, and social inclusion. Even though a shared identification of energy poverty is not yet agreed, this phenomenon has been recognized as an EU priority. Several EU legislative documents address the topic, trying to outline its boundaries and provide a framework for mitigative actions. At the same time, different research and demonstration projects have been funded to experiment and evaluate innovative approaches, strategies, and solutions and to promote good practices at national, regional, and local levels. This review paper presents some results of the “ZOOM” project (“Energy zoning for urban systems. Models and relations for the built environment”, funded by University of Bologna in the framework of Alma Idea 2017–ongoing), proposing a criti...
2024
This report offers a comprehensive analysis of the persistence of energy poverty in the European Union (EU). The primary objective is to analyse the duration and magnitude of energy poverty over time and to identify the socioeconomic and demographic factors contributing to this persistence. Employing longitudinal data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), the study uses multilevel, mixedeffects regression models to assess the impact of individual-level factors such as sex, age, and household size changes. It also examines macro-level variables like social protection expenditure and energy intensity per dwelling. The research highlights the significant proportion of the EU population that experiences energy poverty persistently and uncovers pronounced differences across Member States, with certain countries exhibiting higher rates of longstanding energy poverty. The report acknowledges data limitations, such as missing information for specific countries and years, which restricted the analysis of expenditure-based indicators and certain socio-demographic characteristics. Despite these constraints, the study provides valuable insights into the persistency of energy poverty across the EU, supporting the need for standardised energy poverty indicators that integrate expenditure data. The findings underscore the importance of integrated policy interventions and further research to address this enduring social challenge.
Linking Energy Poverty with Thermal Building Regulations and Energy Efficiency Policies in Portugal
Energies, 2022
Energy-poverty (EP) must be considered an energy-related issue since buildings are a central part of people’s daily lives. Thus, it has an important role in energy-related policy implementation. Even though the European Union (EU) has endorsed general energy efficiency through the Energy Efficiency Directive and Energy Performance of Buildings Directive recast, it was the Clean Energy Package for all Europeans that clearly highlighted EP. The growing concerns with EP have also been emphasised in subsequent directives and initiatives. Despite some regulatory framework and the milder climate situation, the proportion of the population experiencing thermal discomfort in southern and eastern European countries, namely in the winter season, is relatively high, reflecting the poor thermal performance of building stock, low family incomes and high energy prices, among others. The current work analysed the EP evolution in Portugal in the EU context, and the Thermal Building Regulations and ...
Energy Poverty : a problem without a definition
2019
Is energy poverty only one of the symptoms of poverty or is it a kind of poverty all in its own? And, if it is a specific phenomena, how do we define it and how do we even measure it? These are the questions that have been puzzling policy makers. As the energy poverty topic is slowly making it higher in the EU agenda, it is also highlighting the current poverty gap present in EU member states and the different level of progress in dealing with the problem. However, while experts try to find a compromise, people around Europe still struggle to keep