The current trend of rising energy prices is a worrying one. Not only because it means that people will have to devote more of their salaries to simply pay for energy in their homes, but also because it exacerbates the already negative trend of energy poverty.
Energy poverty as phenomenon is not a universal one. It has many definitions and sources, but one people can agree on is that it is influenced by energy prices in a rather major way, as people paying exorbitant sums for energy, leaving them less and less money for themselves each month is problematic. As a way to ameliorate his, renovations and adherence to modern energy performance standards of buildings should be a priority, at least according to organizations and projects such as ENPOR.
ENPOR is a project that aims to tackle two challenges: energy poverty in the private rental sector (PRS), and testing energy efficiency support schemes, identifying energy poor tenants and homeowners.
ENPOR plans to tackle said challenges through three main objectives, them being:
To ensure ENPOR's success, a wide variety of partners and groups have been mobilized, ranging from homeowner associations through utilities companies, to NGOs or policymakers. Among the policymakers, the EU has been a key actor, especially after the inception of the EU Green Deal, the Renovation Wave Strategy and other schemes, among which we can count the Fit for 55 legislative package, new policies and regulations to steer the EU towards a more climate aware future. This was also the key topic at ENPOR's latest Lunch Talk.
Fit for 55 presents the beginning of a new legislative direction for the EU for the upcoming years. It represents the basics of the EU Green Deal, New European Bauhaus as well as the Renovation Wave Strategy among others, all of which contribute to the larger idea. As per the EU definition:
Fit for 55 refers to the at least 55% emission reduction target which the EU has set for 2030. The proposed package aims to bring the EU’s climate and energy legislation in line with the 2030 goal.
Reducing emissions is the overall goal, and the legislative package is quite complex, as it targets many diverse sectors, such as energy, climate, transport, and housing. Obviously, energy and housing are very closely connected, which ENPOR itself picks out as the main area of interest.
To highlight a few relevant parts of the Fit for 55 package:
And these are just some of the important changes brought by the package.
At the Lunch Talk, the panel included representatives of different key stakeholders: Helene Sibileau (BPIE) Emmanuelle Causse and Emil Martini (UIPI), Louise Sunderland (RAP) as well as Gyorgy Sumeghy from Habitat for Humanity EMEA and Ina Karova from the Energy Agency of Plovdiv.
Energy efficient renovation of the existing housing stock is one of the main solutions to reduce energy poverty.
The above written was one of the main talking points of the Lunch Talk that the majority of the guests agreed on. In ENPOR's case, privately rented housing requires renovating those homes that need to overcome several existing conflicts and problems.
Fit for 55 is a very useful legislative package, however, it is also one that can have some seriously damaging consequences if not finetuned properly. According to the Commission, the Social Climate Fund, for example, will help lower the costs for those exposed to fossil fuel price increases during the transition to greener developments, but the issue is that the amount of proposed funding will be insufficient to deliver wide-spread renovations and renewables for energy poor households. As well as this the new emission trading system might also negatively impact energy pricing, making bills even pricier.
Gyorgy Sumeghy from Habitat for Humanity also contributed to the conversation, highlighting work in both REELIH and the ComAct project and saying that owner occupied multi-apartment buildings should be given the same attention as social housing in Western Europe. He proposed that it is the homeowner communities, who need to be convinced first to make the renovation happen, and that requires complex technical assistance and community facilitation. He suggested going for a lower, more sustainable subsidy schemes to incentivize people to also invest into renovation themselves, making it possible for programs to run longer.
For more information on the Lunch Talk and additional resources, please visit this site.
To see the recording of the session, please click here.
ASSIST is currently in its final project stage and to share their experiences and knowledge, they organized a three day final online conference. The fruitful discussion and enriching presentations about energy poverty took place online between 9 and 11 June, 2020. During the final conference, ASSIST presented on their successful multidisciplinary strategy to tackle energy poverty in Europe and the implementation of a holistic approach. The conference was wrapped up by introducing of ASSIST’s final document – policy framework paper to tackle energy poverty.
A crucial point of the project was the development of in-depth knowledge on consumer vulnerability and contribution to the development of a unique definition of energy poverty for its identification and measuring in future. Thanks to these activities and combined results with specific policy orientation tasks, national and European stakeholders are a step closer to measure household energy needs and target energy efficiency measures to low-income households living in energy inefficient buildings.
The final conference was held online due to coronavirus crisis. The conference was structured into three complementary sessions approaching different perspectives of energy poverty. Each day was devoted to another topic, but all were covering energy poverty from different perspectives.
This session was a round table discussion with members of the national Vulnerable Consumers Steering Committee from each ASSIST participant country – Belgium, Poland, Italy, UK, Finland and Spain. The speakers were brought to the table from different sectors so that different perspectives of the project implementation could be shown in the introductory presentations. The representatives presented their country’s experience of how the work of ASSIST has contributed to the implementation of local initiatives and vice versa.
The speakers were discussing what local, regional and national energy poverty initiatives shape the fight against energy poverty. They agree that it is a multidimensional issue affecting different sectors; including public policy, social and health affairs, environment, finance, energy market, home-owner associations.
To be successful in alleviating energy poverty, all the sectors must be included in the dialogue and cooperation.
This session presented the insights from some of European initiatives with their coordinators who were sharing their methodologies and results on what has been already achieved and what are the future goals. Energy efficiency was introduced under Horizon2020 program and LIFE program which is a new funding opportunity for the new budget period.
It is evident that energy efficiency measures are very much relevant and its implementation should be well promoted.
During the final session of the ASSIST conference, new policy framework was presented. It illustrates political pathways, policy recommendations and proposals in different areas to promote vulnerable consumers’ protection in the energy market. This framework paper called "Vulnerable Consumers Protection Framework Paper" was published as a final document deriving from experience gained during the implementation of ASSIST Project in different environments.
The round table discussion was held between different stakeholders working at European level in the institutional, political and social sector. Discussed were opinions and reaction to the introduced policy paper and what issues remain critical to alleviating of energy poverty at European level. The issue of energy poverty is by now politically well recognized among the Member States.
However, policy measures in mere financial support, as it is seen across Europe, do not solve the elementary problem – the drivers of energy poverty:
price, income, energy efficiency for energy poor/vulnerable houses.
Find more information about ASSIST Project here.
Find more information about ASSIST Final Conference here.
Find videos, digests and other materials from ASSIST Final Conference here.
Find more information about the new publication "Vulnerable Consumers Protection Framework Paper" here and the publication in full here.
On 13 February 2018, the LEDS-EEP organised the webinar "Learning from Eastern Europe: An energy efficiency model to reduce energy poverty in residential buildings," presented by Besim Nebiu and Zita Kakalejcikova, from Habitat for Humanity International. This webinar introduces the viewer to the processes and outcomes of the Residential Energy Efficiency for Low-Income Households (REELIH) project, run by Habitat for Humanity International and supported by USAID.
Residential heating energy accounts for more than 30 percent of energy use in most countries of Europe and Central Asia, and for more than 40 percent in the Balkans. Construction and heating methods used between the 1950s and 1980s were not focused on energy savings and environmental concerns, and as a result, highly inefficient energy use today intensifies the impact of escalating energy prices on low-income households. There is thus an urgent need to retrofit most of this housing stock to bring down heating costs and reduce energy poverty.
One way to bring down heating costs is to invest in energy-smart building renovations. One significant obstacle in the way of such renovations is that building owners have difficulty in reaching investment decisions together—a problem often made more difficult by legal complexities.
Habitat for Humanity International, with support from USAID, has run demonstration projects in Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Macedonia to raise awareness among homeowners, improve legal environment, and introduce new market solutions.
Habitat for Humanity has also carried out comparative research on state programs in Central Europe that have been successful. Based on its research and project findings, Habitat for Humanity hosts a dedicated regional knowledge platform at getwarmhomes.org, as well as national knowledge platforms for BiH and Armenia.
Residential heating energy accounts for more than 30 percent of energy use in most countries of Europe and Central Asia, and for more than 40 percent in the Balkans. Construction and heating methods used between the 1950s and 1980s were not focused on energy savings and environmental concerns, and as a result, highly inefficient energy use today intensifies the impact of escalating energy prices on low-income households. There is thus an urgent need to retrofit most of this housing stock to bring down heating costs and reduce energy poverty.
One way to bring down heating costs is to invest in energy-smart building renovations. One significant obstacle in the way of such renovations is that building owners have difficulty in reaching investment decisions together—a problem often made more difficult by legal complexities.
Habitat for Humanity International, with support from USAID, has run demonstration projects in Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Macedonia to raise awareness among homeowners, improve legal environment, and introduce new market solutions. Habitat for Humanity has also carried out comparative research on state programs in Central Europe that have been successful. Based on its research and project findings, Habitat for Humanity hosts a dedicated regional knowledge platform at getwarmhomes.org, as well as national knowledge platforms for BiH and Armenia.
This webinar, delivered in English, takes place on February 13, 2018, from 15:00 to 16:00 CET. Participation is free of charge. To register, please contact tmorante@rec.org.
To join the webinar, please go HERE.
Besim Nebiu
Besim has been with Habitat for Humanity for more than 10 years, and is currently project manager of the “Residential Energy Efficiency for Low-Income Households” (REELIH) project and program manager for several Habitat for Humanity countries in the ECA region, such as Armenia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Poland. He has also worked for international organizations as a program personnel and consultant. Besim, who holds a master’s degree in economics from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, combines his professional third-sector engagement with civic activism.
Zita Kakalejcikova
Zita has been with Habitat for Humanity’s area office for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) since 2014, working in the advocacy team that supports EMEA advocacy initiatives to change housing policies at both regional and national levels. In her current work with Habitat for Humanity on the USAID-run REELIH project, Zita is focused on regional-level advocacy for residential energy efficiency. She holds a master’s degree in international relations and European studies from Comenius University, Slovakia, having spent exchange semesters at Sciences Po Bordeaux and the University of Vienna.