Alleviating household energy poverty in Europe

About this call

Expected Impact:

Proposals should present the concrete results which will be delivered by the activities and demonstrate how these results will contribute to the topic-specific impacts. This demonstration should rely on a solid analysis of the current situation, realistic assumptions and baselines, and establish clear causality links between activities, results and impacts.

In terms of qualitative impact, proposals under this topic should demonstrate how they will contribute to the reduction of (summer) energy poverty for the targeted households (Scope B) and the development of successful coordination structures (Scope A), which can be replicated in other regions or Member States. Prebound/rebound effects should be taken into account and factored in the quantification of impacts, where relevant.

In terms of quantitative impact, proposals should quantify their results and impacts using the indicators provided for the topic, when they are relevant for the proposed activities. Proposals are not expected to address all the listed impacts and indicators. The results and impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after the end of the project. The quantitative indicators for this topic include:

Number of energy poor households with reduced energy costs (Scope A and B)

Number of energy poor consumers benefitting from the activities (Scope A and B)

Number of residential multi-apartment buildings renovated (or renovations triggered by project end) (Scope B)

Number of governance and decision-making structures reinforced/adapted for residential multi-apartment buildings to facilitate energy renovation investments (Scope B)

Number of tailored financing strategies developed for multi-apartment building renovation with energy poor residents (Scope B)

Number of agreements concluded between homeowners and tenant associations demonstrating commitment to energy renovation investments (Scope B)

Number of energy poverty coordination structures established or reinforced (Scope A)

Number of legislative or implementing acts, policies or strategies created/adapted on energy poverty, including summer energy poverty where relevant (Scope A and B)

Number of public authorities and stakeholders with increased capacity and skills (mainly Scope A)

Number of training hours per participant in capacity-building programmes (Scope A)

Increased energy poor household ability to maintain home below a critical heat threshold (Scope A and B)

Quantified multiple benefits for energy poor households, such as improved physical and mental health, comfort and indoor environment, better indoor air quality, improved social inclusion, reduced public health expenditure (Scope A and B).

Proposals should also provide indicators which are specific to their proposed activities.

Proposals should also quantify their impacts related to the following common indicators for the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme:

Primary energy savings triggered by the project in GWh/year [1]

Final energy savings triggered by the project in GWh/year

Renewable energy generation triggered by the project (in GWh/year)

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (in tCO2-eq/year)

Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewable energy) triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro).

Funding rate

Other Action Grants (OAGs) — 95%

Objective:

European households continue to spend a high share of their income on energy, leading to higher rates of energy poverty [2] and negatively affecting living conditions, well-being and health. Most recent estimates suggest that 9.2% of Europeans are unable to keep their homes adequately warm [3] . Higher energy prices, combined with low incomes and poor energy efficiency of buildings and appliances, are root causes of energy poverty. Moreover, the increased occurrence of extreme summer heatwaves in recent years is further exacerbating the challenges faced by energy poor households and increasing household cooling needs, with data indicating that over 20% of European households were unable to keep their dwelling comfortably cool during the summer [4] (‘summer energy poverty’ [5] ). In addition to its causal multidimensionality, energy poverty cuts across different policy sectors beyond energy, such as health, housing and social policy, requiring coordinated, holistic efforts at all governance levels, and involving different sectoral actors.

The European Green Deal [6] sets out to ensure an energy transition that is socially just and inclusive. In accordance with the Fit for 55 package, and in particular the recast Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) [7] , Member States shall take appropriate measures to empower and protect energy poor people and implement energy efficiency improvement measures as a priority among people affected by energy poverty, vulnerable customers, people in low-income households and, where applicable, people living in social housing. In addition, the revised EPBD [8] requires Member States to target the least efficient building stock first in line with the “worst first principle” and the EED (recast) underlines the need to address the split incentive dilemma and remove barriers to energy efficiency measures in multi-owner properties. The social dimension of the Energy Union is further strengthened in the Citizens Energy Package [9] through more ambitious commitments to reduce energy poverty and build on the implementation of the Fit for 55 package. To ensure more coordinated action on energy poverty, the EC has also published guidance on the implementation of EED requirements [10] , and an EC Recommendation on Energy Poverty and accompanying Staff Working Document further set out a series of measures and policies that can be adopted [11] .

In this context, increasing the uptake of building renovation measures, including cooling solutions, can bring significant long-term benefits to energy poor households, and lead to lower energy bills, improved living conditions and health, as well as improving social inclusion. Efforts should focus on offering support to overcome barriers to the uptake of renovation measures in residential multi-apartment buildings requiring coordinated action amongst homeowners and tenants, as well as supporting relevant actors, including diverse public authorities, in designing longer-term strategies and coordination frameworks to mitigate energy poverty at different governance levels.

The EU is facing important increases in energy prices, driven by market volatility and exacerbated by its dependence on imported fossil fuels. A key priority for the EU is to strengthen the resilience of its energy system vis-a-vis geopolitical crises impacting the global energy market. Therefore, applicants under this topic are invited, where possible, to develop and implement long-term structural sustainable and energy efficiency measures to enhance EU energy system resilience against future crises, in coherence with short-term energy relief measures needed to respond to the current shock on the global energy markets.