Cooltorise Policy Brief: How to address Summer Energy Poverty in public policies

Europe should strive to understand how energy poverty manifests in each Member State and different seasons, and provide them with a clear definition to establish future frameworks to guide policymakers.

EU-funded projects should prioritise the development of contextual knowledge within their action plans for each national context rather than attempting to address ill-defined problems. By focusing on recognising the specific challenges and dynamics of energy poverty in each Member State, these projects could ensure a more targeted and effective policy design and implementation.

Policy design should recognise that the drivers of energy poverty, including summer energy poverty, are rooted in cross-cutting structural factors. Therefore, it would be crucial to enforce the comprehensive monitoring of housing conditions, health policies, urban space, energy access, employment and income, as well as climate change. The latter should be considered as a factor that informs present and future summer energy poverty.

To effectively approach the significant issue of summer energy poverty, it would be advisable to implement its direct measurement by means of new primary indicators rather than relying solely on secondary ones.

It would be essential to characterise summer energy poverty based on lived experiences and ensure that it ceases to be overlooked in Europe. Policy design should actively consider these nuances and incorporate targeted measures to address the unique challenges faced during the summer months.

To enhance policy design, the establishment of a framework reflective of the variations between different territories would be highly recommendable, encompassing the comprehensive mapping of lived experiences and initiatives addressing summer energy poverty. At the same time, this framework should aim to foster connections and collaboration across local, regional, national, and international levels. Facilitating knowledge sharing and leveraging best practices would assist policymakers in developing more context-specific and effective strategies to tackle summer energy poverty.

Please, check the full Policy Brief of Cooltorise on Summer Energy Poverty in public policies here.