Energy poverty and energy security: a new challenge for EU policymakers

AIMS

The aim of the final conference is to propose a debate about the main topic of European and national policies to combat energy poverty taking into account other European priorities such as energy security and climate change. The topic of energy poverty and energy security in Europe is developed through sub-themes on: 1. Causes and consequences of energy poverty; 2. Definitions and indicators of energy poverty across EU; 3. The core-periphery divide in the geography of European energy poverty; 4. Energy poverty and public policies across the EU; 5. Energy poverty, energy security and climate change mitigation: trade-offs and synergies.

ORGANIZATION

A scientific committee will issue a call for papers for this event. In the committee, members of IAERE (Italian Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, of which the proponent is a member) and of the European University Institute in Florence will be invited to participate. At EUI, the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) includes, among several programmes, the Florence School of Regulation that does research in the area of energy and climate. The conference will be divided in two main sessions. During the first session, outstanding representatives from the academia and researchers in the field of development economics will provide an overview of the energy poverty issue, coupled with rigorous empirical assessments of the effects of energy access and on the limit of implementation strategies in developing countries. During the second session, institutional and business delegates will present goals, initiatives and best practices already in place at the global level, trying to identify the most important challenges and possible solutions arising from the cooperation of different actors.

This event will be advertised through the website, the UNIFI newsletter and the local press. Stakeholders and policymakers will be invited as well as the general public.