On February 15^th, 2022, DIALOGUES was at the Conference “Energy poverty and municipal actions” represented by our partner Climate Alliance Italy. The Conference was organised by AISFOR (Agency for Innovation, development and training) in collaboration with the Italian Coordination of Local Agenda 21 and Climate Alliance Italy.

The theme of the Conference was “The role of municipalities in combating energy poverty” and among all the interesting outcomes we highlight the following:

The integration of energy poverty in the PAESC (Action Plans for sustainable energy and climate) consists of four elements:

• reduction targets,
• tools for monitoring,
• a list of indicators and
• actions by the Municipalities.

Precisely in the spring of 2022, the Pact will launch a set of indicators and an evaluation and monitoring tool to define the best actions to be implemented for the Municipalities.

There are about 60 indicators divided by categories, including climate, mobility, political and regulatory framework, awareness and participation, which offer solutions to reduce energy poverty at the local level. Therefore, thanks to the variety of indicators, municipalities can very flexibly choose those most suited to their context.

Using the monitoring indicators, the Municipalities can follow the development of specific aspects and trace the reduction of energy poverty in the area, being the only ones to decide which indicators to work with.

The role of municipalities in combating energy poverty:

The fight against energy poverty emerges as an objective in local politics both because the phenomenon has objectively increased, and because, as stated by Karl-Ludwig Shibel from Climate Alliance Italy:

“The energy transition must be not only ecological and energetic, but also economic and social, and above all fair. It will not work without the collaboration of European citizens, which is why we have the Horizon 2020 “DIALOGUES” Project on energy citizenship. We understand that we are still at the beginning, but what we are saying today will have an impact, so we need to introduce a socio-ecological dimension in order not to leave anyone behind. The Paesc can insert energy poverty in the vision of sustainable development of the territory, involving citizens and talking about energy citizenship”.