Everybody deserves a decent, affordable, energy-efficient, and weather-proof home. We know low-quality buildings cause energy poverty and climate disasters. That’s why governments should finance renovations and implement SER (sufficiency, efficiency, renewables). Supporting the most vulnerable households with targeted measures and financing should be the priority on the new EU housing commissioner’s agenda. They should collaborate with front-line actors and support structural changes, finally making decent housing and sufficient energy a right and not a luxury. Fixing Europe’s housing will relieve poverty and mitigate climate change. There’s no time to wait for the EU’s new energy and housing commissioner.
If asked to define a ‘home,’ chances are people would answer with more than just “a place to live.” It’s a place that holds memories and possessions, a place to welcome family and friends, for some it’s the place they work. On a deeper level, they might connect home with well-being and security.
In an ideal world, everyone should have access to a home that offers all of the above. But for over 47.4 million Europeans, this basic level of well-being is out of reach as they struggle to keep their homes warm, cool, or dry enough, leading to health issues and emotional distress. Energy poverty, underscored by inadequate living conditions, takes a heavy toll.
For the first time ever, the new European Commission will include a portfolio for “Energy and housing”, acknowledging the intersection between these issues. It will be vital that the new Commissioner sees how both of these connect to the climate crisis and why we need systemic and targeted solutions that do not only lower bills and provide decent homes for the most vulnerable but also decarbonise our homes and prevent further fossil fuel lock-ins.
Indeed, climate change is making this injustice worse, as it increasingly threatens the shelter our homes can offer. With the weather getting more extreme, causing record heat waves and devastating cold snaps, many homes are not resistant enough to keep people safe – the rising death toll from extreme temperatures is hard proof.
Energy poverty and climate disasters are connected in a cruel feedback cycle.
Just as people in Europe struggle to access the bare minimum of energy necessary to keep their fragile homes liveable, reliance on that same fossil fuel based energy in inefficient infrastructure is causing even worse climate hazards. As of now, buildings contribute 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, with 80% of energy in homes used for heating, cooling and hot water. This huge energy expense is shrinking Europe’s carbon budget, and it is reflected in unaffordable utility bills piling up on kitchen tables.
We have seen how vital it is to provide access to energy price support during the height of the energy crisis when it enabled millions of Europeans to keep the lights on. But when subsidies are simply lining the fossil fuel industry’s pockets without offering sustainable alternatives, they ultimately foster fossil energy dependence. In practice they are also rarely targeted and hard to access for those who really need support. They do not address a root cause of energy poverty, which is the system in which energy is owned and distributed by a few companies whose purpose has never been to distribute it fairly.
While in the past it may have seemed sensible to subsidise fossil fuel companies in order to make energy cheaper and raise standards of living, we cannot rely on this any longer. Energy consumption must decrease to ensure our common survival on this planet. What we need is smarter and fairer energy use, to tackle the problem at its root.
Renovating the EU’s worst-performing homes, occupied by the most vulnerable families, will improve living conditions and tackle carbon emissions.
A transition strategy based on the SER principle (combining sufficiency, efficiency, and renewables) should aim for both decarbonising homes and enabling less energy-intensive ways of living. At the same time, buildings should be adapted to the warming climate, to stop the heat from escaping in winter and keep bedrooms at a liveable temperature during summer.
Renovations with energy-saving improvements (such as double or triple glazing, insulation, heat pumps) will achieve both these objectives while making people less dependent on burning fossil fuels to stay comfortable and healthy.
But when the cost of either renting or buying a home has spiralled up (by 18% and 47% in the last decade), how can people who are already struggling to pay their bills, invest in costly renovations? The aggressive financialisation of the housing market and rising living costs make it impossible for many to access decent housing, let alone invest in energy efficiency. It’s clear that without public investment and targeted support, vulnerable households will continue to bear the brunt of the cost of living crisis.
The EU’s new housing commissioner has a clear priority on their agenda.
Civil society mobilisations have succeeded in bringing the issue to the European agenda. Recent legislation such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) has given momentum to the focus on worst-performing homes and vulnerable households. Yet, national renovation programmes still have inadequate definitions, funding is scarce and hard to access, there are few options for renters… And the figures for energy poverty keep increasing.
The European Commission has promised to take up the issue in its new mandate by naming a commissioner for energy and housing. His mission letter calls for him to “help address energy poverty” and “contribute to the European Affordable Housing Plan”, by boosting investment in affordable housing. A truly dedicated commitment would be for the new commissioner to ensure the right to energy and deliver decent housing for all. This means taking measures so that benefits of renovations and decarbonisation really go to vulnerable households, and are not captured by housing and energy companies.
Through the recent energy and cost of living crises, we have seen how exposed millions of people were to volatile energy prices. In the near future too, as carbon taxes on commodities are extended, dependency on fossil fuels will become even more problematic for those who can’t access or afford the alternatives yet. That’s another reason why home renovations and energy-efficiency are an urgent matter, and why they must be paired with accessibility and funding measures targeted to the most vulnerable groups.
To ensure support reaches the people who need it the most, EU countries should collaborate with a wide array of front-line actors, including representatives of marginalised communities and people who experience energy poverty, as well as social workers, unions, and initiatives like the Build Better Lives campaign which is a group of 91 NGOs who call for affordable and effective solutions.
It’s not rocket science: with measures to reduce the amount of energy people need to run their households, we can also relieve energy poverty, mitigate climate change, and increase resilience to climate hazards. There’s no time to wait for the new Commissioner to take decisive action.
The housing crisis, climate crisis, and cost-of-living pressures demand comprehensive solutions that address the needs of every segment of society — an energy transition that leaves no one behind.
Written by Emilie de Bassompierre
