Will Plans to Ease Energy Poverty Go Up in Smoke? Assessing the Hungarian NECP through the Lens of Solid Fuel Users’ Vulnerabilities

Hungary has one of the highest incidences of energy poverty in the European Union, and a high share of Hungarian low-income households rely on solid fuels. This paper first maps the energy vulnerabilities of Hungarian solid fuel users using six energy vulnerability factors. The mapping underlines th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2021-12, Vol.13 (23), p.13047
Main Authors: Bajomi, Anna Zsofia, Feldmár, Nóra, Tirado-Herrero, Sergio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Clean energy
Clean technology
Climate change
Energy efficiency
Energy policy
Energy poverty
Energy prices
Heating
Households
Housing
Indoor air quality
Low income groups
Market positioning
Poverty
Price cuts
Renewable resources
Residential energy
Society
Solid fuels
Sustainability
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Summary:Hungary has one of the highest incidences of energy poverty in the European Union, and a high share of Hungarian low-income households rely on solid fuels. This paper first maps the energy vulnerabilities of Hungarian solid fuel users using six energy vulnerability factors. The mapping underlines that solid fuel users are more exposed to energy vulnerability than average households. This is followed by an analysis of energy-poverty-related objectives and measures outlined in the Hungarian National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), a key policy document of the green energy transition. The paper outlines that the NECP fails to comply with the requirement of setting energy poverty alleviation objectives. Furthermore, the outlined energy-poverty-related policies and measures fail to provide systematic solutions to energy-poverty drivers, especially those solid fuel users’ vulnerabilities. Hungary’s general antiegalitarian policy environment and the weak design of energy poverty measures in the NECP suggest severe deficiency regarding a just energy transition guarantee. A just energy transition in Hungary is therefore endangered by the fact that EU energy poverty alleviation requirements fall under soft-law coordination mechanisms that make such requirements hardly enforceable in a member state with an antipoor policy bias that is reluctant to tackle energy poverty.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su132313047