Energy and mobility poverty
Will the Social Climate Fund be enough
to deliver on essential services?
Yamina SAHEB & Florin Vondung

‘Fit for 55’ suggests a potential emergence of the combined
energy and mobility poverty while it is already a reality
• The proposed Social Climate Fund does not aim at tackling the
already existing energy and mobility poverty. Its objective is to
tackle the expected impact of the extension of the EU ETS to
building and road transport
• European Pillar of Social Rights’ principle 20 states on the access
to essential services states that “ Everyone has the right to access
essential services of good quality, including water, sanitation, energy, transport,
financial services and digital communications. Support for access to such services
shall be available for those in need.”
• Sustainable Development Goal 1 requires countries to end
any type of poverty

While 6 EU binding instruments tackle energy poverty, none of
the EU binding instruments tackles mobility poverty
EU binding instruments tackling energy poverty EU binding instruments tackling mobility poverty
1-Directive on common rules for the internal market
for electricity
2-Directive on common rules for the internal market
in natural gas
3-Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union
and Climate Action
4-Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings
5-Directive on Energy Efficiency
6-Directive on the promotion of the use of energy
from renewable sources
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None of the EU binding instruments aims at eradicating energy and mobility poverty

Market design of gas prices is an overlooked
triggering factor of energy poverty
Lowest income pay the highest price per unit of consumed gas

Market design of electricity prices is another
overlooked triggering factor of energy poverty
Lowest income pay the highest price per unit of consumed electricity

Market design of electricity prices is another
overlooked triggering factor of energy poverty
Lowest income pay the highest price per unit of consumed electricity

‘Fit for 55’ makes an important but incomplete step towards
defining energy poverty while it ignores mobility poverty
Definition of energy poverty in the proposed revision
of the EED
By analogy, the following definition of mobility
poverty is proposed
‘energy poverty’ means a household’s lack of access to
essential energy services and lack of affordability of
those services that underpin a decent standard of
living and health, including adequate warmth, cooling,
lighting, and energy to power appliances, in the
relevant national context, existing social policy and
other relevant policies.
Energy poverty can be caused by one or the
combination of the following factors: Low income,
market design of gas and electricity prices leading to
high energy expenditures for those consuming less and
poor energy efficiency of homes.
Mobility poverty means a household is unable to
afford the necessary travels required to meet
essential socio-economic needs in a given context and
can be caused by one or the combination of the
following factors, depending on national and local
specificities: low income, high fuel expenditures
and/or high costs of public transport, availability of
other mobility alternatives and their accessibility and
location, travelled distances, transport practices and
the poor performance of vehicles.
In red our suggestions to include in the ‘Fit for 55’ to ensure MSs will put in place measures to
eradicate both energy and mobility poverty

EEPI and EMPI are composite indicators which combine existing
indicators to assess energy and mobility poverty
Best performing MSs in tackling energy poverty are not necessarily the best performing ones in
tackling mobility poverty
2021 Ranking of MS using the European Energy Poverty
Index (EEPI) for the 1st decile
2021 Ranking of MS using the European Mobility Poverty
Index (EMPI) for the 1st decile

The European Well-Being Index (EWBI) ranks MSs by assessing
the combined effect of energy and mobility poverty
Addressing both energy and mobility poverty requires going beyond energy policies
and considering land use, urban and housing policies
2021 Ranking of MS using the European Well-Being
Index (EWBI) for the 1st decile

Moving forward
• The combined energy and mobility poverty results from the urban sprawl triggered
in the last three decades by land use, urban policies and housing policies
• Leaving no one behind requires including requirements in EU binding instruments
to eradicate both energy and mobility poverty as signed off by MSs in their SDGs
• Ending energy poverty requires a fair market design and making existing buildings
occupied by low-income zero energy buildings
• An energy renovation agency is the ideal option to renovate dwellings occupied by
low-income households
• Limitations of the existing indicators to assess both energy and mobility poverty
should be addressed urgently
• Summer energy poverty should be included in the EC assessment of energy
poverty
• Mapping the combined energy and mobility poverty will accelerate eradicating
both

Thank you for your attention
More information on the combined energy and mobility poverty is
available at European Well-Being Index
Yamina SAHEB & Florin Vondung