Alleviating household energy poverty

Objective

Reduces household energy poverty in Europe, where 9.2% of Europeans cannot keep their homes adequately warm and over 20% cannot keep them comfortably cool during summer ("summer energy poverty"). Energy poverty is multidimensional (energy, health, housing, social policy) and the Energy Efficiency Directive, EPBD and the Citizens Energy Package require Member States to empower and protect energy-poor people, target the least-efficient building stock first ("worst first principle"), and address the split-incentive dilemma in multi-owner buildings.

Scope

Actions should actively alleviate energy poverty by building on existing tools, indicators and resources — notably the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub and the energy-poverty pillar of the Covenant of Mayors. Proposals should target specific energy-poverty barriers and demonstrate progress against measurable outcomes for energy-poor households. Particular focus on overcoming barriers to renovation in residential multi-apartment buildings (homeowner coordination, tenant-landlord split incentives) and on supporting public authorities to design longer-term strategies and coordination frameworks at different governance levels.

What this means for cities and regions

Strong fit for cities and regions running tenant-support schemes, social-housing renovation programmes or local Energy Poverty Action Plans. Funds the cross-sector coordination work (energy + social + housing + health) that no single department in a city can deliver alone. Consortia of 3 partners from 3 countries; topic budget €6M at 95% co-financing.