Speaker
Description
Energy is one of the essential services that everyone should have access to, as identified by the European Pillar of Social Rights. Nevertheless, according to Eurostat, in 2023, an average of 10.6% of the European population was in a condition of energy poverty, i.e. could not afford to keep their homes adequately heated. For some Mediterranean countries (Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey) and Lithuania, this percentage exceeded 19% and reached about 21%. Against this backdrop, alleviating energy poverty becomes crucial to fostering a fair and equitable transition. However, the design of effective policies to reduce energy poverty in the EU is a challenge that faces several barriers, including the lack of (i) a shared definition of energy poverty at the European level, (ii) a set of common indicators to measure and monitor it, and (iii) the disaggregation and spatialisation of data.
Energy poverty is multidimensional and thus depends on a plurality of factors, both individual (income, living conditions, available technologies, health-related needs) and external (energy price, climatic conditions, which are also exacerbated by climate change). In addition, energy poverty represents a form of spatial injustice regarding the geographical issues of resource accessibility, production, and distribution.
The ‘Clean energy for all Europeans package’, adopted by the EU in 2019, introduced the concept of energy communities to denote forms of citizen-driven energy actions able to accelerate the clean energy transition and foster social innovation. Regarding the latter, engaging and empowering citizens can fundamentally impact sustainable behavioural change for consumers, who become energy prosumers, thus helping to transform the energy system. Moreover, this engagement is extended to all consumers, regardless of socio-economic status. Hence, energy communities represent a valuable tool in responding to energy poverty. Despite this promising picture, evidence of their contribution to a just and sustainable energy transition in Europe is still lacking: further experiences, scientific studies, and analysis tools to capture their potential in energy poverty alleviation are thus needed.
This work addresses these gaps from a spatial planning perspective while adopting a socio-ecological justice lens. Indeed, it investigates practices of clean energy production through multi-purpose community actions, focusing specifically on remote areas, typically rural and remarkably impacted by poor energy access and socio-economic disadvantage. It discusses the results of a systematic literature review conducted in two phases to investigate possible access to such practices. Through a keyword analysis - in Scopus - of titles and abstracts, the first phase collects publications since 2000 with one or more EU case studies in which three research domains - namely, clean energy production, community actions, and remote areas - appeared jointly. The second phase explores the links between domains and identifies those publications with the highest relevance to the research objective. Out of 1127 publications collected, the number has eventually been reduced to 67.
Based on the results obtained, the contribution discusses several issues, including (i) in what geographical contexts and subject areas they are addressed, and concerning the relevant publications identified, (ii) what are the elements that generate success or problematic situations, (iii) what is the degree of citizens engagement, and finally (iv) which is the primary publication’s scope or output, e.g. assessment, modelling or implementation. In conclusion, the contribution questions to what extent the available instruments and identified initiatives can be improved with a view to remote areas.
| Keywords | energy poverty; sustainable energy transition; community actions; remote areas |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
