Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Projects
    • Corporate Taxation in a Globalised Era
    • US Election 2020
    • The Transformation of Work
    • The Coronavirus Crisis and the Welfare State
    • Just Transition
    • Artificial intelligence, work and society
    • What is inequality?
    • Europe 2025
    • The Crisis Of Globalisation
  • Audiovisual
    • Audio Podcast
    • Video Podcasts
    • Social Europe Talk Videos
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Shop
  • Membership
  • Ads
  • Newsletter

Europe’s energy transition must steer towards social justice

by Pierre Jean Coulon, Marie Delair and Kristian Krieger on 17th January 2019 @EESC_TEN

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Environmentalists and anti-poverty campaigners haven’t always seen themselves on the same side of Europe’s energy transition. Dramatic reduction in the cost of renewables is making a new alignment feasible.

Europe's energy transition

Pierre Jean Coulon

Urgency and ambition have come to dominate the energy and climate debate. In October 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its challenging report on the impact of a 1.5C temperature rise on pre-industrial levels. And, ahead of the COP24 global climate negotiations which concluded in Poland in December, the European Commission published a new long-term strategy, setting the ambition that the EU become carbon-neutral by 2050.

The fundamental transformation of Europe’s economies towards carbon neutrality does not however present only a vast technological challenge. The popular demonstrations by the gilets jaunes in France against increasing fuel taxes testified to a feeling of fiscal unfairness surrounding the energy transition. Local resistance against offshore wind is another indication of the political difficulty of turning Europe’s economies upside-down within an extremely tight timeframe. Critically, as with any major transformation, benefits and risks are unevenly distributed regionally and socially across Europe. By focusing on market integration, climate change and energy security, the political system struggles to pay sufficient attention to the social dimension of the energy transition.

Europe's energy transition

Marie Delair

A case in point is energy poverty, where individuals are not able to afford services they need—heat, light, air-conditioning and so on—in their homes. It is estimated that about 10 per cent of the EU population might be affected. Progress within EU policy-making has been slow. Even though energy poverty became a legally recognised concept in 2009 with the Third Energy Package, the legislation did not translate into substantive, binding obligations on member states or concrete actions addressing the challenge. Only a handful of member states have introduced even legal definitions of energy poverty into their legislation.

Where governments lag behind, civil society emerges as a main advocate, raising awareness at European level. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), representing organised civil society, issued an opinion in 2001 on climate change and emissions trading, highlighting the risk of fuel poverty. And, in an own-initiative opinion of 2013, it made a number of recommendations, from a comprehensive EU Energy Solidarity Fund to an EU Energy Poverty Observatory. In 2016, the commission released a Clean Energy Package, which includes many positive ideas on energy poverty, including the establishment of the observatory and specific energy-efficiency measures. But many issues remain unresolved—for instance, what role social as opposed to energy policies should play in alleviating energy poverty.

Cheaper renewables and bills

Europe'e energy transition

Kristian Krieger

Historically, some commentators have expressed concerns about the costs of the transition to low-carbon energy systems, affecting—via electricity and gas bills—vulnerable consumers. As the costs of renewables have sharply declined over the past decade and are now seen as competitive with fossil fuel, the perspective should however be reversed and the energy transition seen as an opportunity to alleviate poverty. Indeed, it can be argued that economically weak and rural regions and vulnerable households can reap significant benefits from the transformation of Europe’s energy systems.

Cutting-edge thinking straight to your inbox

"Social Europe publishes thought-provoking articles on the big political and economic issues of our time analysed from a European viewpoint. Indispensable reading!"

Polly Toynbee

Columnist for The Guardian

Thank you very much for your interest! Now please check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

Decentralised systems with renewables bring hope for poverty alleviation through cheaper, self-produced energy, offering revenue through own generation. In such a vision, citizens, local civil-society organisations and local utilities become central actors in Europe’s energy future. Local and regional governments can play a crucial role in ensuring that this involvement is inclusive: with public financing, simplified administrative procedures, awareness campaigns and training, they can enable energy communities and energy-poor households to participate in energy markets. It is important to make an economic case for locally-owned, smaller-scale renewables installations which generate social benefits for local people—especially given that the commission expects, for instance, that the share of larger-scale, offshore wind in the renewables mix increases in future.

Nuclear energy is foreseen as providing low-carbon energy in the EU 2050 strategy. But even here, where debates normally pit environmentalists concerned about safety against operators, the distinctive regional economic and social dimension is key. As with any other large industrial installation, nuclear power plants have a limited lifespan. With about 130 reactors in operation in Europe, Europe faces future challenges of decommissioning. Nuclear power stations, often located away from densely populated regions, dominate regional economies and shape local labour markets. Once the decommissioning process is launched, regional economies are likely to be adversely affected.

Lithuania’s Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is a case-study of the social consequences of closing power plants. The Ignalina NPP brought local economic activity to a remote region near the Belarusian border. The nearby town of Visaginas has a population of more than 30,000 citizens, 80 per cent of whom depend economically on Ignalina’s activities. Even if new jobs were generated by decommissioning, they would be too few to replace those lost. It is thus of key importance that decommissioning activities take into account the implications for the local economy.

The EU has recently launched several initiatives which show an increasing recognition of the social dimension of the Energy Union, from the coal regions in transition platform to the energy poverty observatory. Reflecting the scale and scope of the transition, however, the social challenges are ubiquitous and multi-faceted. Tackling them will be crucial as the energy transition becomes ever more ambitious and urgent.


Please help us improve public policy debates


As you may know, Social Europe is an independent publisher. We aren't backed by a large publishing house or big advertising partners. For the longevity of Social Europe we depend on our loyal readers - we depend on you. You can support us by becoming a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month.

Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

Ignoring social concerns and failing to take into account grievances would exacerbate the feeling of being unheard by distant policy-makers which has fuelled the populist challenges to national and EU political systems. In contrast, an energy transition which offered help and opportunities to take ownership in energy supply and assisted those left behind could reconnect citizens with their communities and shape the transformation.

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on LinkedIn
Home ・ Europe’s energy transition must steer towards social justice

Filed Under: Politics

About Pierre Jean Coulon, Marie Delair and Kristian Krieger

Pierre Jean Coulon is president of the European Economic and Social Committee's TEN section: Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and Information Society. He has had a long and distinguished career in the French trade union movement (CFTC), the United Nations' Commission for Sustainable Development and the international NGO Droit à l'Energie SOS Futur. Marie Delair is a former fellow at the Freie Universitat Berlin. She assists the EESC secretariat on transport and energy issues. Kristian Krieger is responsible for energy policy in the secretariat of the TEN Section. He holds a PhD in environmental governance from King's College London and has conducted research on the ethical dimension of the energy transition.

Partner Ads

Most Popular Posts

decarbonisation,energy transition Europe’s decarbonisation challenge? ‘Wir schaffen das’ Adam Tooze
integrated review Lost an empire, not found a role Paul Mason
Uber v Aslam,UK Supreme Court Putting the brakes on the spread of indecent work Ruth Dukes and Wolfgang Streeck
debt cancellation,cancellation of debt,ECB Cancelling a debt we already own has a false allure Anne-Laure Delatte, Michel Husson, Benjamin Lemoine, Éric Monnet, Raul Sampognaro, Bruno Tinel and Sébastien Villemot
horizontal inequalities,vertical inequalities Fissures that tear us apart and pressures that weigh us all down Kate Pickett

Other Social Europe Publications

RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020
Corporate taxation in a globalised era
The transformation of work
The coronavirus crisis and the welfare state

Eurofound advertisement

Industrial relations: developments 2015-2019

Eurofound has monitored and analysed developments in industrial relations systems at EU level and in EU member states for over 40 years. This new flagship report provides an overview of developments in industrial relations and social dialogue in the years immediately prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Findings are placed in the context of the key developments in EU policy affecting employment, working conditions and social policy, and linked to the work done by social partners—as well as public authorities—at European and national levels.


CLICK FOR MORE INFO

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

#Care4Care!

It took us a global pandemic to realise that we depend on care. Despite all the clapping from the balconies, care workers continue to work in precarious and vulnerable conditions. Women, who represent 70% of the care workforce, continue to suffer from a severe lack of recognition for both their paid and unpaid care work. It’s time for a care revolution! It’s time to #Care4Care! The Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), together with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), has been intensively working since 2019 to monitor the EU gender equality policy agenda through a progressive lens focusing particularly on its care dimensions.


FIND OUT MORE HERE

Social Europe Publishing book

With a pandemic raging, for those countries most affected by Brexit the end of the transition could not come at a worse time. Yet, might the UK's withdrawal be a blessing in disguise? With its biggest veto player gone, might the European Pillar of Social Rights take centre stage? This book brings together leading experts in European politics and policy to examine social citizenship rights across the European continent in the wake of Brexit. Will member states see an enhanced social Europe or a race to the bottom?

'This book correctly emphasises the need to place the future of social rights in Europe front and centre in the post-Brexit debate, to move on from the economistic bias that has obscured our vision of a progressive social Europe.' Michael D Higgins, president of Ireland


MORE INFO

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Renewing labour relations in the German meat industry: an end to 'organised irresponsibility'?

Over the course of 2020, repeated outbreaks of Covid-19 in a number of large German meat-processing plants led to renewed public concern about the longstanding labour abuses in this industry. New legislation providing for enhanced inspection on health and safety, together with a ban on contract work and limitations on the use of temporary agency employees, holds out the prospect of a profound change in employment practices and labour relations in the meat industry. Changes in the law are not sufficient, on their own, to ensure decent working conditions, however. There is also a need to re-establish the previously high level of collective-bargaining coverage in the industry, underpinned by an industry-wide collective agreement extended by law to cover the entire sector.


FREE DOWNLOAD

ETUI advertisement

Social protection during the pandemic: freelancers in the creative industries

This working paper identifies some key areas of policy intervention for advancing socially sustainable and fair solutions for freelancers working in the creative industries, who are among those who have suffered the most from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the authors focus on those who work entirely on their own account, without employees (ie the ‘solo self-employed’), and who undertake project- or task-based work on a fixed-term basis.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Find Social Europe Content

Search Social Europe

Project Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

.EU Web Awards