When: 26 July 2023
In the European Union, energy poverty is impacting numerous citizens and is becoming increasingly acknowledged as a major concern for policymakers. According to Eurostat, around 7 per cent of the population of the European Union experienced energy poverty in 2021. Bulgaria had the highest proportion, with 24 per cent of its population affected. Despite large amounts of public funding being devoted to tackling the issue, there are challenges that prevent the most vulnerable from participating in the energy transition.
This webinar featured EU and Bulgarian experts – an energy efficiency specialist, a Senior Assistant at the Institute of Economic Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences who is part of the working group preparing energy poverty legal criteria and EU policy offices working on approaches to address the issue in EU member states – who shared their experiences on the following topics:
- Different understandings and approaches to tackling energy poverty across Europe.
- Building renovation in Bulgaria and how a one-stop shop network could accelerate the green transition of the residential sector.
- Country specifics, challenges, and progress in introducing the mechanism for energy poverty reduction in Bulgaria.
During the webinar, a special focus was given to the financing procedures in different countries to reduce energy poverty, whether they are present, how accessible they are, and what results they give.
The delay in adopting criteria for energy-poor households in Bulgaria proves to deepen the issue and increase the inequalities related to energy access.
Decentralised energy production from renewable energy and prosumerism was confirmed to be key to tackling energy poverty.
During the Q&A session a topic that stood out was how the introduction of RES would influence the energy market with the conclusion that it is essential to prevent only large companies ownership, but rather enable individual participation in the energy market in the form of prosumerism or promote the establishment of energy cooperations, a public – citizen initiative to ensure energy independence from huge price fluctuations.
There were 34 people present at the webinar, coming from 4 EU countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Romania and Italy).
Recording (in Bulgarian and English)
