What are the prospects for #energypoverty alleviation in the EU?
My paper, out today, summarises the new measures to reduce energy inequities in the EU energy and climate framework, #fitfor55, and offers guidance to implementers and civil society on the key challenges faced in addressing the risk of energy poverty.
The European Green Deal contained lofty language promising to put people first, be just and inclusive and leave no one behind. These promises are multi-faceted, subjective and hard to measure. To offer some kind of assessment, I scanned the new legal texts for concrete provisions that contribute to energy poverty alleviation.
Although very far short of a full evaluation of ‘just and inclusive’, my assessment of the energy poverty provisions concludes that the new measures are significant. They increase political focus, indicate a shift of emphasis from offering mainly minimum protections to aiming for empowerment and addressing underlying structural inequalities, and prioritise people who have previously been underserved. The new provisions are, however, complex. Implementers will need significant support to realise the benefits.
Will it all be enough? Almost certainly not in the face of energy prices that are still higher than pre-crisis, a new carbon price on heating and transport fuels due later in this decade, and an ongoing cost of living crisis for many. But this knowledge provides all the more reason to implement the new supports fully, effectively and quickly.
Watch this space for an explainer video later this week.
https://lnkd.in/edW-8X2n
Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP)
Laia Segura Cueto, Guillaume Joly, Anna Zsofia Bajomi, Dr., Eva Brardinelli,
Martha Myers, Camille Defard