New study published in Energy Research and Social Science by a graduate of Societal Transitions and a core faculty member of the Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative discusses the structural issues perpetuating energy poverty and explores how to achieve a more just energy transition When looking at the energy transition, it becomes apparent that those who would benefit from it most – because they cannot pay their energy bills, and/or live in a house with a bad energy label or social housing – are too often the last people afforded the opportunity to take part in it.
When Russia invaded Ukraine and the energy prices surged dramatically, the struggle to pay enormous energy bills as a result of badly insulated housing stock became a lot more common and thus attracted more attention to what is called “energy poverty,” when in fact it had been a problem for much longer. Working together with the municipality of Rotterdam, those living in energy poverty in Rotterdam, city officials, housing corporations and energy coaches where interviewed to better understand how energy poverty is currently dealt with and how different actors in the city try to bring the energy transition to those who cannot afford expensive retrofits or live in social housing. The premise of this study, which investigates the energy transition in the Netherlands through looking at the drivers and effects of energy poverty in Rotterdam, asks what are the barriers to achieving a just energy transition, and what would it take to overcome intractable buck-passing?
Getting to work on a ‘real-life’ problem like energy poverty changed my perspective as an academic and stressed that doing research can and should have a real societal impact
Luisa Zabel
Alumna MA Societal Transitions
The aim is to shed some light on the (systemic) barriers to tackling a problem that is interconnected with a lot of other societal issues, and thus faces a fragmented landscape of actors that want to alleviate it. That means that a big part of the problem is that it requires a lot of different actors to collaborate due to its complexity. Because, what would really help people in poverty are solutions that go beyond energy payment vouchers. Solutions that target insulation as the real issue, would help future generations too. But adequately retrofitting housing, without passing on all the costs to renters (either forcing them out of their homes, or creating stress from higher fees), would require the state and housing corporations to rethink their ways of working, expand their planning horizons, and move towards structural collaboration with each other and social organizations that are already active in the respective neighborhoods addressed.
Beyond the research activities to write the journal article, this Erasmus Trustfonds and Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative-funded project also organized two workshops around energy poverty: One with academic organizations like the TNO working on these issues; and another with the relevant actors themselves – those living in energy poverty, energy coaches, housing corporation representatives, staff from the Gemeente Rotterdam, and other community stakeholders. Both these workshops aimed at exploring how to overcome the identified structural issues preventing a just energy transition, with the stakeholders workshop including a thought experiment where participants were asked to see the problem from each other’s position, and given a chance to voice their expectations towards the other stakeholders to facilitate better coordination around the just energy transition.
- CV
Luisa Zabel is currently a Consultant in Sustainability and Circularity at 2BHonest, a Dutch company helping businesses succeed in achieving measurable climate and environmental responsibility. After graduating from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Luisa worked in New York for a year at the United Nations in Programme Management Support for the SDG Strategy Hub.
Yogi Hendlin is a core faculty member of the Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative and Assistant Professor in the Erasmus School of Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Yogi’s funded projects have looked at sustainable shipping fuels in the Port of Rotterdam, issues of transnational greenwashing as the Global North engages in ecophilanthropy in the Global South, and the effects of pesticides like glyphosate on the environment and health.
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