The EU’s message highlighitng that : “energy poverty must be tackled by addressing its root causes through structural and targeted measures, and in particular through energy efficiency” sets the standard for EU projects such as RENOVERTY to focus on rural communities who struggle with energy poverty issues. Research on specific urban-rural disparities has found significant regional differences across the EU, with rural areas in Central Eastern (CEE), Southern Eastern (SEE) and Southern Europe (SE) being traditionally much poorer and more excluded than urban contexts (Binelli & Loveless, 2014). Despite being more exposed to energy poverty than urban areas, substantial evidence suggests that significant gaps in knowledge and practice remain, particularly regarding energy poverty and energy efficiency in rural areas, contributing to rural areas in the EU lagging in the energy transition process (Dokupilová et al., 2021; Karpinska & Śmiech, 2020; Roberts et al., 2015).
In this context, implementing energy efficiency policies to address energy poverty is not just a question of technical capacity, it is related to wider financial, social, geographical, and regulatory challenges, urging the need for tailor-made solutions specifically addressing the needs of rural households.
The latest RENOVERTY multilingual factsheets focus on tackling rural energy poverty in 7 countries with specific rural cases, with identified challenges and gaps in energy efficiency measures and provide critical insights on energy efficiency, affordability, and policy gaps.
Discover the cases per country in English:
- Croatian factsheet
- Estonian factsheet
- Hungarian factsheet
- Italian factsheet
- Portuguese factsheet
- Slovenian factsheet
- Spanish factsheet
Discover the cases per country in their national language (coming soon):
- Croatian factsheet
- Estonian factsheet
- Hungarian factsheet
- Italian factsheet
- Portuguese factsheet
- Slovenian factsheet
- Spanish factsheet
