Energy Poverty and Sustainable Economic Development: An Exploration of Correlations and Interdependencies in European Countries

Abstract

The problem of energy poverty exists in practically every European country. Its size and scope are determined by a variety of factors, ranging from economic development to the direction of energy and climate policy implementation to cultural factors. Our aim in this paper was to carry out a comparative analysis of indicators related to energy poverty and sustainable development to identify correlations and links between the two issues and determine how they are related. The fact that the analysis was performed for most European countries is new and represents a broad spectrum of research; we were not limited to studies of countries bound by formal political-economic arrangements or by consideration of the degree of economic development. This approach enabled explication of how diverse the situation is in Europe. The research methods used included a critical analysis of the literature and the use of descriptive and mathematical-statistical tools. The main conclusions and findings of the analysis were that in some countries in economically developed Europe, energy poverty is a major problem, and that, in this respect, there are large differences between “old European Union” and “new European Union” countries, and in the countries that do not belong to political-economic structures in Europe. It is clear, from the research, which countries are rapidly and effectively reducing their energy poverty problems and which factors are the determinants of this. These results are linked to the new direction of energy policy and the shift towards more environmentally friendly energy use. In conclusion, it has been possible to identify the causes of energy poverty and how the energy poverty situation in Europe is changing.

Towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 in sub‐Saharan Africa: Role of governance and renewable energy

“…Several studies show that energy poverty alleviation bear synergies with other SDGs like SDG‐3: Good Health and Well‐Being and SDG‐4: Quality Education (Banerjee et al, 2021; Lin & Okyere, 2021; Raghutla & Chittedi, 2022), while also having trade‐offs with climate action goals which comes under SDG‐9 (Dagnachew et al, 2018). Tundys et al (2021) have explored the relationship between the energy poverty indicators and pro‐environmental policies for a group of 35 European economies by considering their economic and governance structures. Their methodology comprised of both qualitative analyses based on review articles, legal documents and reports, as well as, quantitative comparison among the different countries based on statistical data.…”

“…Several studies show that energy poverty alleviation bear synergies with other SDGs like SDG-3: Good Health and Well-Being and SDG-4: Quality Education (Banerjee et al, 2021;Lin & Okyere, 2021;Raghutla & Chittedi, 2022), while also having trade-offs with climate action goals which comes under SDG-9 (Dagnachew et al, 2018). Tundys et al (2021) have explored the relationship between the energy poverty indicators 2021) have concluded, from their case-study of a renewable-energy project in Vietnam, that for low-carbon energy transition, which is among the top priorities under climate-action (SDG-13), energy policy makers should link social priorities with energy justice. Therefore, policy formulation without properly understanding the interlinkages between different policy goals, will result in resource wastages, faulty strategies, and inadequate outcomes.…”

Prosocial motives of solar entrepreneurs combating energy poverty in South Africa

“…As such, people who are members of households experiencing difficulties in meeting various types of energy needs are considered energy poor. This applies not only to problems with access to electricity, but also to heating and hot water (Tundys et al, 2021).…”

Change in the Affordability of Owner-Occupied Housing in the Context of Rising Energy Prices

“…A huge volume of literature documents that household energy and energy and housing poverty is increasingly vital for maintaining good health and is reflected in policymakers' decisions. Many authors deal with the issue of poor housing [20][21][22], energy poverty [23][24][25][26], socioeconomic disadvantage [27][28][29] and climate change [30][31][32] from various perspectives. Pala [33] considers climate change as one of the crucial factors of household's well-being, Stanimir [34] discusses socioeconomic disadvantages connected to poverty through the lens participation of vulnerable communities in labor market and their preference of immediate remuneration in exchange of longer-term stability and career growth.…”