A new project which aims to examine energy poverty across the EU – and measures to combat it – has been launched in Brussels.
Energy poverty is the inability to secure adequate levels of energy services (which include heating, cooling, lighting and information technology), and is estimated to affect more than 50 million people in the European Union.
The EU Energy Poverty Observatory, funded by the European Commission and chaired by Professor Stefan Bouzarovski from Manchester University, comprises 13 organisations, including universities, advocacy groups, think tanks, and the business sector.
“The EU energy poverty observatory will revolutionise government policy and academic scholarship on energy justice and equity across the world. For the first time in history, it will render a condition that affects millions of Europeans visible and measurable,” said Professor Stefan Bouzarovski.
Through them, about 100 internationally-renowned experts will collect and publish Europe-wide energy poverty data while serving as the focal point of an emergent network of policy-makers, research scientists, advocacy groups and community activists interested in the issue.
The observatory is geared at improving the transparency of information and policy by bringing together the disparate sources of data and knowledge that exist in varying degrees across the whole of the EU. It also provides a user-friendly and open-access resource that promotes public engagement as well as informed decision making by local, national and EU-level decision makers.
It aims to improve energy poverty detection, measurement and reporting by creating a public forum for the exchange of knowledge on the issue.
For more information: www.energypoverty.eu
30 Jan 2018
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