How can you measure fairness in a clean energy transition? This was one of the many discussion points at a workshop organised by the International Energy Agency and hosted by the EU Commission in Brussels on 13-14 March.
The ‘Widening Participation in Clean Energy Programmes’ workshop brought together an international team of 54 people from academia, NGOs and policy, all working on issues such as tackling energy inequalities, developing renewable energy programmes and promoting climate action. Over two days, we also heard from EU officials, including Andriana Sukova, who is a Deputy Director-General for DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion.
I spoke at a session which focused on addressing barriers to participation, highlighting the following key points in particular:
- We need to recognise that not everyone has a choice to take part in a clean energy transition and much of that is due to infrastructural inequalities. For example, there is a high focus on heat pumps and EVs and while these technologies are urgently needed, not every home can fit a heat pump and not every person drives a car. Other solutions need to be highlighted too.
- It is crucial that we identify people who have a limited choice in energy transitions. We have started to do just that as part of EDRC’s research. Christian Calvillo’s work – which also informed the Climate Change Committee’s 7th Carbon Budget – has for example shown that people with protected characteristics are more likely to rent their homes and use public transport, while disabled people and older people, for example, can have higher energy needs due to medical equipment or increased heating needs.
- We urgently need to reduce energy demand via measures such as renewable heating and cooling. For this, we need financial support, but also better designed technology that people want to use and have in their homes. Has anyone seen a beautiful heat pump for example? If so, please send photos.
While in Brussels, the building where the event took place was hit by a power cut. We were able to adapt the meeting schedule and change things around for a couple of hours. However, not everyone can do that, as highlighted by María María Ibañez Martín, Professor at Universidad Nacional del Sur & National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) in Argentina. She gave an example of how extreme weather and flooding had impacted newly installed clean energy technology in an Argentinean community. In addition to widening participation in clean energy, we need to consider resilience to climate risks from any new solutions too.
During the workshop, I had a chance to catch up also with EDRC’s Advisory Board Chair Louise Sunderland from RAP, who presented a very clear framework on inclusive policy design, as well as inspiring academics such as Prof Doris Fuchs, Director of Research Institute for Sustainability – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam (RIFS) and Dr Aggeliki Aggeli from Aalborg University. At a time when some politicians are questioning the fundamentals of climate change and the need to act with measures like net zero, it was empowering to be in a room with people and organisations who are motivated by climate policy and action. We know that we are doing the right thing.
As for measuring fairness, we did not come up with a definitive answer – yet. We discussed that measuring fairness can be difficult as it is subjective and further influenced by aspects such as culture, context and values. We agreed that considering distributional impacts of energy transitions could be a good starting point, but also that fairness is about more than just metrics – even when policy makers often want numbers. In any work going forward, it is imperative that workshops like these also amplify the voices of people who are less often heard.
It was a fruitful two days of discussions and I was left again with more consideration for how research and policy needs to talk about topics such as participation. As we have discussed also with EDRC colleagues, terms like “the energy poor” are not inclusive. Such terms can further cement systemic inequalities rather than recognise how underlying inadequate infrastructure such as bad quality housing for example limits people’s options. An energy transition will not happen successfully without people at the heart of it, and for that it is commendable that the IEA is putting more focus on this topic.
P.S. Train is a sustainable way to travel from London to Brussels. Eurostar estimates that a London to Brussels journey by train has 96% lower CO2 emissions than flying: 2.6kg of CO2 emissions per person – compared to 68.1kg of CO2 by plane.
