Ending energy poverty: how EU citizens are taking action

The Right to Energy coalition organised a session on energy poverty during EU Sustainable Energy Week.

In a time of climate emergency, millions of Europeans still cannot afford their energy bills, and live in inefficient, wasteful, and sometimes dangerous dwellings.

Awareness of energy poverty has never been higher in Europe — and this has resulted in the strongest-ever inclusion of the issue in the new EU Energy package. But across Europe, citizens have not waited for legislation to take action: they have been building creative solutions to fight energy poverty on the ground for decades, with renewable energy projects, local energy communities, solidarity programs, campaigns for insulation of homes and to recognize access to clean affordable energy as a human right.

They have enabled the emergence of the issue of energy poverty, and policy-makers still have much to learn from the focuses, perspectives and solutions put forth by these citizens, which we will bring to Brussels. If the energy transition is to be acceptable and even popular, it must include people who have firsthand knowledge of energy poverty, and who mobilize to find solutions.

Speakers:

• Kevin Chaplais, Director of les Amis d’Enercoop and coordinator of the Energy program of Energie Solidaire (France) to talk about local solidarity programs stemming from community energy projects
• Lydie Gaudier from the RWADE (Belgium) to talk about how civil society organises to fight energy poverty
• Alexa Waud from Fuel Poverty Action (UK) to talk about how the energy transition is experienced by residents and communities living in energy poverty
• Julien Dijol from Housing Europe (EU) to discuss the role of renewable energy and energy efficiency in social housing to fight energy poverty

See the presentation here