Right to Energy Forum is an annual event organized by Right to Energy Coalition which unites trade unions, anti-poverty groups, social housing providers, environmental campaigners, health organizations, NGOs and energy cooperatives working on eradication of energy poverty across Europe. This year, regular topics of the event, such as energy efficiency legislation, state level advocacy or local community campaigns, were accompanied by discussions of the European Green Deal and the Renovation Wave Strategy together with the world pandemic and its impact on energy poverty.
Right to Energy Forum 2020 took place between December 1 and December 3, 2020. Every day, there were four to five sessions covering different solutions and possibilities to maximize energy efficiency and to address energy poverty with various experts at EU, national and local level.
Right to Energy Coalition invited several Members of Parliament to talk about energy poverty and the Just Transition from the perspective of the European Union under "MEP panel discussion" led by Clotilde Clark-Foulquier from FEANSTA. Cornelia Ernst, Radan Kanev, Manuel Pizarro and Kim van Sparrentak agreed that the development of a universal definition of energy poverty is a crucial step to be done for the overall approach to energy poverty from the EU perspective. They touched upon socially just climate transition which must avoid creation of more social gaps in the society. In regard to renovation of existing building stock, first on the renovation list must be the worst performing buildings and the most vulnerable groups. In regard to Energy Poverty Recommendation document, the MEPs warned about a risk of unintended negative impact connected with an unguarded liberalization of the energy markets. The energy markets usually consist of a rather small number of energy providers, being it strong, big companies. These serve consumers who in fact lack adequate information and knowledge to make reasonable decisions for an offer that would guarantee them the best prices and service. In other words, especially the poor are not good market players and the primary goal of any policy attempting to alleviate energy poverty should be to protect the most vulnerable.
We would like to highlight a session "Energy poverty: Opportunities and complexities in Eastern Europe", too. During this session, National Director of Habitat for Humanity Bulgaria Mincho Benov talked about the energy poverty situation in Bulgaria, emphasizing the problem of very low income in the country and bad condition of buildings that highly contribute to overall energy poverty in the country where majority of citizens are owners of the dwellings they live in. Then, Georgi Georgiev, Head of the Department of Architecture at New Bulgarian University talked about the complexity of defining energy poverty and the existing definitions across Eastern Europe. He suggests to find a common language for the region to better address the issue of energy poverty.
Overall, this three day event brought together a high number of experts in the field of energy poverty and was inspirational for further work from local projects to European policy. Thanks to the fact that this event took place online, you can still watch all the recordings from the sessions.
Find more information about Right to Energy Coalition here.
Find all the recordings from the sessions here.
In October 2020, the European Commission published the official Renovation Wave Strategy with an aim to improve the energy performance of buildings by doubling the renovation rates in the next ten years and making sure renovations lead to higher energy and resource efficiency. The process of strategy's development was accompanied by two rounds of public consultation in which we took part together with many partner organizations, such as FEANTSA, Housing Europe or BPIE. The HFHI EMEA Advocacy Team prepared and published a feedback to Renovation Wave Roadmap as well, building on the expertise in the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) which is typical for its high proportion of energy inefficient, owner-occupied, multi-apartment residential buildings. Alongside the longer recommendation paper, we promoted seven points that should be considered in relation to owner occupied multi-apartment buildings in CEE countries.
The publication of the Renovation Wave Strategy is very timely considering the current situation around the world pandemic crisis. The topic of affordable and decent housing moved more to the center of discussion since people are recommended to stay home most of the time as to protect themselves in the first place. Lack of appropriate housing, especially during the winter months, poses a pressure on national governments and other relevant stakeholders to find effective and permanent solutions to housing issues, including those connected to energy poverty. We consider the Renovation Wave Strategy as a crucial step of the EU toward a more systematic and monitored process of renovation of buildings within the region and even beyond. It is a great chance especially for the region of Central and Eastern Europe together with Western Balkans which consists mainly of owner-occupied multi-apartment buildings that lack proper renovation and energy efficiency upgrades inevitable for ensuring proper housing for its inhabitants.
The Renovation Wave Strategy is divided in three focus areas for building renovations:
The European Commission admits that "poorly performing buildings have a large potential for improvement but their renovation faces persistent barriers ranging from regulatory obstacles to structural factors.
Renovation of social and multi-apartment housing faces additional barriers due to the complex decision-making during the renovation process.
To effectively address these barriers, it is called for an integrated approach accounting for the social setting and affordability of housing. Accompanying services and technical assistance are essential for the worst-performing buildings".
HFHI considers this as a clear demonstration of acknowledging the complexity of the process of renovation in multi-apartment housing stock with high number of owners, including overcoming of legal, human and financial obstacles to renovation process of these co-owned properties.
We welcome also the Affordable Housing Initiative that will be launched by the European Commission in 2021. This initiative is prepared to renovate 100 lighthouse districts across Europe in order to examine whether and how the EU budget resources can be used to fund national energy efficiency and savings schemes that target primarily lower-income population. The goal is to provide local social housing projects with necessary technical capacity and to mobilize cross-sectoral project partnerships linking all local actors and promoting social engagement models to empower residents.
Along the Renovation Wave Strategy, the European Commission has published a document called Recommendation on Energy Poverty. The fact itself that the European Commission prepared a separate document on this topic is a huge step forward in the ongoing discussion of energy poverty.
In this document, it is acknowledged that energy poverty arises from a combination of different factors, including low income, high expenditure on energy and poor energy efficiency performance of dwellings together with volatile energy market prices and a range of socioeconomic factors associated with general poverty. This therefore identifies the main areas where the EU should step in.
We appreciate that the European Commission identifies a crucial role to be played by regional and local authorities. Having the right place in the system and a capacity to fulfill the role of identifiers of the key financial and social challenges facing households in energy poverty, they can likewise play a significant role in designing and implementing green transition from lower levels.
There are several recommendations formulated as part of this Energy Poverty document. We highlight recommendation number 4 that calls for
integrated policy solutions as part of energy efficiency improvements and social policy measures since these reinforce each other, especially in housing.
Number 7 elaborates more on this and adds to the importance of multi-sectoral, holistic approach to alleviation of energy poverty.
Developed measures addressing energy poverty must be built on close cooperation between all levels of administration, enabling close cooperation between regional and local authorities, civic society organizations, and private sector entities.
This approach is fully in alignment with our knowledge proved by experience that effective addressing of energy efficiency renovations and energy poverty depends on a holistic approach combining social and energy policies. Among the implemented measures should be
Housing Europe as the European Federation of public, cooperative & social housing welcomes Renovation Wave Strategy especially in the time of pandemic crisis. They emphasize that the plan to make European homes more sustainable has to be understood likewise as a social transition. Such principles as energy efficiency first, affordability, decarbonization, circularity, health, digital economy and innovative architecture must stay in the center of discussion and ensure the most vulnerable groups are not left behind.
FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless), in their statement, is promoting similar remarks in regard to support of lowest-income and most vulnerable groups in the topic of energy poverty. In current form of strategy, they still see a risk for occurrence of gentrification and gaps in addressing housing exclusion and lowest-income groups. To add, FEANTSA appreciates a specific attention on "hard-to-reach" and "at-risk" households, but does not see a clear set of tools to tackle energy poverty in worst-performing buildings in real time. On the other side, the European Commission proposes to increase the volume and impact of EU funding that should be primarily targeted toward lowest-income and worse-housed groups together with poor property owners particularly in multi-apartment buildings. Regarding renovation process itself, the worst performing buildings must be the first on the list of renovation. Moreover, FEANTSA suggests establishing of dedicated EU "cold homes" fund that would serve funding renovation of worst performing buildings and housing units of people suffering from energy poverty.
Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) claims that the ambition of doubling the annual energy renovation rate in the EU by 2030 cannot be achieved without putting the importance on increase of energy savings which is achieved through deep renovation of building stock. To effectively choose the buildings that need the renovation the most, information on building data is an essential step. They also comment on financing the renovation and agree, that public financing must be complemented by private sources to ensure the renovation will be affordable for all groups. To add, emphasis on technical assistance is well-appreciated by BPIE because they acknowledge the role of different beneficiaries, including local authorities who must be knowledgeable about their options in order to correctly design the programs for renovation works, including those that are small-scale.
This topic is much discussed among our partner organizations. The initiative to create the minimum energy performance standards of buildings within the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is much welcomed, however, it is multiple times highlighted that it is important to properly set the financial schemes to avoid unintended consequences of discriminations of vulnerable groups and widening of the gap between poor and the middle class. FEANTSA suggests strong social mechanisms such as ban of renoviction, monitoring of rent increases and establishment of rent caps after renovation. Moreover, FEANTSA points out to the need of defining the worst-performing buildings which can serve as a tool to target housing units that are for example damp, cold or owner-occupied.
We hope that the European Green Deal and specifically Renovation Wave Strategy will consider the remaining comments and challenges indicated by many organizations and stakeholders within the field and make this strategy really be a booster for action to renovation process in the European Union which is so needed to ensure adequate and energy efficient housing for all.
Find more information about Renovation Wave here.
Find the press release about Renovation Wave Strategy here.
Find the fact sheet about Renovation Wave and the European Green Deal here.
Find all the feedbacks on EC consultation on "renovation wave" initiative here.
Housing Solutions Platform is an initiative which aims to identify, debate and promote innovative solutions for affordable housing in Europe. It was established with joint efforts of FEANTSA, the Fondation Abbé Pierre, Friends of Europe and Housing Europe. Last year, they published "50-Out-of-the-box Solutions to Homelessness and Housing Exclusion" which is a collection of some of the most innovative and daring examples of housing solutions in Europe. We very much appreciate that Housing Solutions Platform recognized REELIH project and included it as an example of best practice in this publication.
This year, among hosting other roundtable discussions and webinars, Housing Solutions Platform prepared a series of three webinars under name #50Solutions:
#50Solutions Online Training 1: The Example of Faith-Based Organisations
#50Solutions Webinar 3: For a Green Recovery that Leaves No-one Behind
The series of webinars touches upon topics connected to current events, such as response to COVID-19 crisis in relation to homeless and vulnerable groups, and the European Green Deal. The first webinar talks about the challenges that came with the pandemic situation and the emergent need for support of the most vulnerable people who suffer the most from the housing difficulties. The second and the third webinar showcase some of the 50-out-of-the-box solutions under two thematic discussions. The second webinar promoted discussion about the alternative forms of land and property ownership.
The last webinar was organized in the context of the European Green Deal and freshly introduced Renovation Wave Strategy, which ambition is to trigger massive building renovation as a contribution to climate neutrality, mandatory minimum energy performance standards and affordable housing initiatives. The projects presented during the last webinar of this series combine social and ecological objectives in their initiatives. We are very glad that we could present REELIH learnings during this session, together with French project Toits d'Abord by Fondation Abbé Pierre and Flemish project Sustainability Through Energy-Effective Retrofit by VVH – Association of Flemish Social Housing.
The webinar offered a fruitful discussion on topics of undergoing the renovation process and energy efficiency improvements in lower-income households and vulnerable groups both through private and public funding. The special thanks belongs also to Julien Dijol from Housing Europe who reflected on all three presented projects in relation to the Renovation Wave Strategy. He acknowledges the specific intention of the Renovation Wave to support especially Eastern European states and its multi-apartment buildings. This is aimed to be done mostly through the technical support and creation of one-stop-shops where entities, such as municipalities or public housing companies, could act on behalf of homeowner associations and serve its purpose as community facilitators in a way.
If you missed the webinar, you can follow up by watching the recording from the event available on Housing Solutions Platform website.
On October 14, 2020, the European Commission has published its Renovation Wave Strategy which aims at improving the energy performance of buildings. Just two days after its introduction, C4E Webinar took place as part of the Central and Eastern Energy Efficiency Forum C4E 2020 edition. This webinar was opened by the European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson and for the panel session, invited were official representatives responsible for energy from Croatia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and a member of the European Parliament from Romania to discuss about how the Renovation Wave Strategy could be turn into practice in CEE countries.
Check out more about the C4E webinar, the discussion and its summary here or watch the session below.
There are no more doubts that our planet is in the state of climate emergency. With buildings being one of the biggest contributors to the climate change in Europe, it is our responsibility to come up with realizable ideas and to transfer them into functioning projects that will help meeting EU's energy efficiency targets and long-term goal under the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) to fully decarbonize it's buildings stock by 2050.
Renovation became crucial and its rate needs to increase to at least 2-3% of renovated building stock per year.
It is the European cities themselves who can significantly contribute to this renovation process. That is the main motivation for BUILD UPON2 project, funded by EU Horizon 2020 and led by World Green Building Council, to empower the cities across Europe to cooperate with national governments and industry to strengthen the overall local effectiveness and implementation of the national building renovation strategies required by the EPBD. To effectively accelerate the renovation process, the EU Member States are, apart from development of their renovation strategies, further required to set out specific roadmaps, including measurable progress indicators and milestones. BUILD UPON2 thus addresses one of the main barriers standing in the way of renovation process, being it the lack of an adequate, widely shared Impact Framework to track the renovation process and its implementation.
This pilot framework includes a suite of milestones and measurable progress indicators for city renovation strategies. It will monitor indicators such as the emissions reductions, increased employment and improved health. During the project, these data are captured locally in the chosen cities. At a national level, the framework is supposed to link renovation to policy and decision making process, leading to greater investments in renovation. Developed methodology by the project also indicates:
Testing of the Framework will be realized in 8 pilot cities, each located in different European country:
GBC España is the main Coordinator of the project accompanied by a think tank Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) and the municipal network Climate Alliance which leads the Covenant of Mayors Office-Europe. The consortium of eight national Green Building Councils consists of:
Success of this project should serve as a motivation and a "know-how" for cities around Europe to transform their national renovation strategies into more local city strategies to achieve the goal of the EU to completely decarbonize its building stock by 2050. For now, the goal of BUILD UPON2 is to motivate and see at least 10 more cities committing to establish their own strategies by 2021. For future instances, the developed Framework should become a cornerstone of and an inspiration for any building renovation process not only within the area of the European Union.
Find more information about WGBC here.
Find more information about BUILD UPON2 project and its partners here.
Year 2020 is rather a strange year due to enormous impact of COVID-19 crisis that has changed the way of living of most people around the world. At the same time, the question of adequate housing became "a must" and moved to the center of many discussions around the globe which is overall a positive sign. Since in-person conferences are still not in the foreseeable, the discussion moved to the online space. Even though the online versions of conferences do not bring the benefit of personal meeting with various specialists and stakeholders, the conferences and enriching presentations, on the other hand, become more accessible for anyone who is interested in the topic. And so, there are many opportunities this month to learn more about energy efficiency and housing from different perspectives since many leading housing organizations considered October as the best time of the year to organize at least online form of their, some already postponed, events.
The first week of October 2020, UN-ECE organizes exceptionally an in-person event Sustainable Cities Week in Geneva, Switzerland. The first day of this event is dedicated to discussion of SDG 11, its successes and challenges in implementation process. The second day belongs to The Forum of Mayors bringing together city leaders from Europe, North America, Central Asia and Caucasus under this year's topic "City action for a resilient future". Next two days are reserved for the 81st Session of the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management to discuss the implementation of key international agreements such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the New Urban Agenda and the Geneva UN Charter for Sustainable Housing. The last day belongs to the annual meeting of Sustainable Smart Cities.
FEANSTA Conference 2020 is another event held online in the first week of October. This is an online version of their annual conference that usually takes place in June. This online event will be composed of series of webinars running throughout the whole week. For each day, they prepared series of three one-hour webinars. The topics cover homelessness in various perspectives, talking about specific groupings of people, such as LGBTIQ, asylum seekers and refugees, working poor, women, youth... COVID-19 and its impact on the homelessness will be discussed as well, together with social enterprises, eviction prevention, housing first initiative and usage of EU Funds to combat homelessness.
HOUSING EUROPE's Annual Conference has been, too, moved to online world. The narrative of this high level event will be a bit unusual, ceasing from the price tags and financial issues connected to housing in big cities. Instead, it will be leading the focus toward much-neglected social value of housing.
Another online event is organized between October 15 and 16, 2020 by Global Forum On Human Settlements as The 15th Annual Session of Global Forum on Human Settlements & Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards Ceremony. The main theme of the event is Post-Pandemic Recovery and Transformation: Resilient Cities, Healthy Planet. Thematic Forum 2b will be on energy-efficient and sustainable housing prepared and hosted by UN-ECE.
The last, but definitely not the least, October event is the three week series of online events under the 18th European Week of Regions and Cities 2020. Each week is dedicated to different topic, first being "Empowering citizens", second on "Cohesion and Cooperation", and the last on "Green Europe". On Monday, 19 October, there will be a session on Energy efficiency: low-income households where Brussels-Capital Region, Ghent, Lille Metropole and Vienna will share their actions in upgrading the energy efficiency of existing buildings and alleviating energy poverty for low-income households.
This week, from September 21st to September 25th 2020, World Green Building Council (WGBC) organizes the 11th edition of World Green Building Week which is an annual campaign empowering all relevant stakeholders to deliver greener buildings. This year, the main topic of the week are net zero buildings and the main goal is to mobilize relevant policymakers, governments and building sector to act toward delivering more and more net zero buildings. The campaign is underlined by global goal of tackling the climate change and the belief that each of us can make a difference.
The campaign is built around a key slogan #ActOnClimate and consists of three pillars arguing for support of net zero buildings:
As a part of World Green Building Week 2020, WGBC prepared a Call for Action Statement urging all levels of governance to implement policies that would help achieving a fully decarbonized building and construction sector by 2050 and fulfilling other commitments included in Paris Agreement. This Call for Action Statement can be endorsed here.
"Net zero carbon buildings: for communities, for the planet, for economies. No matter where you are, you can #ActOnClimate #WGBW2020."
Find more information about WGBC here.
Find more information about World Green Building Week here.
PRESS RELEASE, ARMENIA
On July 14, 2020, Habitat for Humanity Armenia Foundation (Habitat Armenia) and "Agroleasing Leasing Credit Organization" LLC signed a partnership agreement which is aimed at
establishing a mechanism to facilitate the lending process for the renovation and energy efficiency improvement of residential buildings in Armenia.
In particular, the purpose of the partnership is to support the management bodies of residential buildings to renovate and improve energy efficiency in their buildings, including renovation of entrances, installation of energy efficient windows and doors, external thermal insulation of walls, modernization of lighting systems, etc. To facilitate the process of lending to management bodies of residential buildings, Habitat Armenia has set up a $50,000 guarantee fund. At the pilot phase of the project, it is planned to renovate at least 18 apartment buildings in line with the project criteria. The target beneficiaries of the project are the management bodies of residential buildings in Armenia, which will also be provided with technical assistance on renovating buildings and implementing energy efficient and energy saving measures.
The partnership is implemented within “Residential Energy Effciency for Low Income Households” (REELIH) project which is funded by USAID and co-funded and implemented by Habitat Armenia.
“One of the most important prerequisites of the project implementation is the close cooperation of the residents and their willingness to take part in the project and regularly pay the mandatory fees. According to the results of the survey among homeowner associations that participated in the project, the level of comfort in the buildings has enhanced, energy efficiency has improved and the trust of the residents towards the homeowner associations has increased”,
said Varsenik Khloyan, Manager of REELIH project.
The project aims to improve the investment environment in Armenia related to residential energy efficiency, develop and implement applicable financial models, develop the national institutional capacity, as well as establish a national platform for knowledge exchange and implementation of pilot projects.
According to Aram Mkhitaryan, Director of “Agroleasing Leasing Credit Organization,
there are a large number of Soviet-era buildings in Armenia that need renovation. The project is a good opportunity to renovate residential buildings in Armenia, while reducing energy costs and providing residents with more comfortable conditions.
Habitat Armenia has implemented projects directed at renovation and energy efficiency of residential buildings in Armenia since 2011. To date, within the scope of the above mentioned projects energy efficient measures have been implemented in 43 residential buildings as a result of which around 2,600 families live in upgraded and energy efficient buildings. According to the project monitoring data, as a result of the measures taken, an estimated reduction in energy consumption of up to 6% was recorded.
Habitat for Humanity Armenia Foundation is the national office of Habitat for Humanity International founded on the conviction that everyone should have a decent place to live. Since 2000, through the work of Habitat Armenia, more than 8,300 low- and middle -income families have found new hope in the form of affordable housing. Habitat Armenia has a key role in affordable housing by helping to institutionalize energy efficiency in the country. By partnering with financial institutions, local municipalities, as well as international organizations, homeowner associations and tenants of residential buildings, Habitat Armenia implements substantial sustainable energy projects in residential sector. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves.
To learn more about REELIH project in Armenia, click here.
To learn more about Habitat Armenia, visit www.habitat.am
"Agroleasing Leasing Credit Organization" LLC was established in 1999, and in 2003 it was re-registered in the Central Bank of Armenia, receiving a license for leasing and lending activities. The main directions of Agroleasing Leasing Credit Company’s activities are financing of agriculture, food processing organizations, individuals, entrepreneurs, as well as energy efficient projects. The organization has funded start-up food processing entrepreneurs who currently hold leading positions in Armenia, and the implemented programs have contributed to the creation of about 5,000 new jobs.
To learn more, visit www.agroleasing.am
The last week of June traditionally belongs to the biggest event dedicated to energy efficiency and renewables in Europe – EU Sustainable Energy Week. 15th time organized Sustainable Energy Week took place not as usual in Brussels, but online between June 22 and 26, 2020. It was accompanied by Policy Conference, EUSEW Awards, Energy Days, networking activities, side events and for the first time, EUSEW introduced the European Youth Energy Day.
This is the biggest European conference dedicated to topics of renewables and energy efficiency. The sessions are organized by the European Commission and energy stakeholders. Their focus is on sustainable energy issues, new policy developments, best practices and sustainable energy ideas.
The discussion went much around the European Green Deal and its Renovation Wave initiative which becomes even more crucial in the uncertain times of coronavirus crisis. Due to the current situation, the Renovation Wave will serve not only as an initiative boosting current low renovation rates but will become a means to support recovery process after the crisis, too.
We drive your attention toward one of the EUSEW's sessions
which talks about the specificities and potential of CEE countries for recovery and the transformation to a zero-carbon economy. Simultaneously, the session is directed to local and regional authorities interested in examples of good practice in this region.
Take the chance and check out more of EUSEW2020's interesting sessions available on EUSEW youtube channel:
the European Climate Pact is an initiative under the European Green Deal aiming to engage citizens and communities in action for greener Europe. The session provides inspiration on how a dialogue can be built between different stakeholders and sectors
The EUSEW Secretariat stands behind the EUSEW Awards together with the Technical Advisory Committee which brings together experts from different fields of sustainable energy. They then decide for the winning initiatives in different categories. Most common initiatives that apply for EUSEW Awards consist of citizen-led sustainable energy-awareness programs, public schemes promoting energy-saving buildings, and private companies leading the way in green tech and carbon-neutral manufacturing.
This year, EUSEW Awards had three categories - Innovation, Youth, and Engagement. Additionally, there were winners of Women in Energy Award, the Eastern Partnership Award and the Citizens' Award.
Energy Days – an opportunity for all to contribute. These days take place between May and June and can be held anywhere within the region of the European Union. It can be any digital activity or an event organized by local public or private organization which is non-profit and aims to attract the public to promote clean energy and energy efficiency. Just check out the map of Energy Days across Europe.
This was the first time this event took place during EUSEW. A special concept invited young enthusiastic EU citizens aged between 18 - 30 to talk about their visions on Europe’s energy future, to present their ideas on innovation and views on European Green Deal. This was a unique opportunity for European youth to meet and build a dialogue among themselves as well as with Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Green Deal, who was personally involved in the discussions. This event shall serve as a starting point of new collaboration and implementation of many great ideas, connecting young experts from different fields who are determined to make the European continent carbon-neutral and number one in the process.
Find more information about EUSEW2020 here.
Find all online sessions recorded here.
The main topic of the annual, online conference of the EU Energy Poverty Observatory was the challenges on indoor cooling in the scope of energy poverty. The focus of the discussion was more on the southern part of Europe where energy poverty is connected with rather summer months and extreme heatwaves and resulting inability of people to keep their homes cooled. However, discussed were relevant topics also for Central and Eastern part of Europe for which winter energy poverty is more characteristic.
The introductory part was led by Stefan Bouzarovski who spoke about the successes of the EU Energy Poverty Observatory since its beginnings and talked about the two main ways to tackle energy sustainability of buildings:
He highlighted that there are many ways to address the issue of energy poor households, starting with division of summer and winter energy poverty.
What remains among the main challenges in the fight against the energy poverty is
For the panel discussion, three experts were invited to talk about different challenges connected with energy poverty and cooling.
Pau Garcia Audi, Policy Officer at European Commission, EPBD, talked about tackling energy poverty from the EU perspective. Energy poverty is not a single-region problem but a wide-spread issue that is shaped by numerous factors, being it societal, economic, regional or historical. It is a fact that building stock in the EU is not energy efficient and that needs to be changed.
Energy poverty should be addressed both in national plans focusing on whole systems of energy efficiency, and in long-term renovation strategies focusing on decarbonization.
Vincent Viguie, Researcher on economics and climate change at CIRED Paris, talked about "summer" energy poverty, its impact, possible solutions and risks within the country-specific scope. Exposure of warmth and more frequent heatwaves stand behind heat stress, lowering air quality, CO2 emissions because of more AC used, worsened economic activity, transportation system failures, tourism and also problems in agriculture.
Federico Beffa, Program Officer at Fondazione Cariplo Italy, looked at the issue from local perspective. According to him, one of the possible ways to alleviate energy poverty is to support local network and to include municipalities and non-for-profit organizations in a dialogue when developing the transition climate plans.
The conference was closed by Ciaran Cuffe, MEP (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance). In his speech, he emphasized that it is necessary to tackle low incomes, renovation of building stock and to work on effective energy efficiency legislation and fair energy taxation across the EU. For the Renovation Wave to be successful, meaningful dialogue between the EU on one side and the regions, national and local level communities on the other, must be made more effective and constructive.
Find more information about the conference here.