Housing Studies Association Annual Conference 2020 Housing, devolution and localities: Inventing a future or more of the same?

Contextualizing household energy efficiency in the frame of the theory of Energy Justice - a literature review Week 2, Session 4 In the context of energy transition, it is crucial to guarantee that the situation of vulnerable groups, such as energy poor households, do not worsen and that they also benefit from the process. Inefficient homes are one the most important causes of energy poverty, while investments in energy efficiency of the housing stock is a key element of the current energy transition. Involving energy poor households’ dwellings in the large-scale renovation program would offer large co-benefits in terms of carbon emission reduction and alleviation of energy poverty. Though, to guarantee that energy efficiency funding arrives to energy poor households too, a policy attention is needed, and it raises important questions in terms of justice. This paper is a literature review and first, it aims to contextualise household energy efficiency in the conceptual framework of energy justice. Then explores works on spatial patters of energy poverty in Europe as well as on the (lack) of policy responses in the field of energy efficiency at national levels in the European Union. All this, to highlight further aspects of inequalities that are relevant in the context of energy justice. The most striking result to emerge from this review is that EU energy efficiency policies have not been adequately analysed yet in the context of energy justice and their capacity of energy poverty alleviation. This present study therefore lays the groundwork for future research in the field of exploiting co-benefits of household energy efficiency policies in terms of energy transition and energy poverty alleviation.