Residential energy efficiency is driven by the need to address energy poverty, which affects over 40 million people across the EU, particularly the elderly and low-income households, and remains a significant barrier to achieving a more sustainable future for all.

In 2021, 6,9 % of the EU population could not keep their homes adequately warm. In 2022, this percentage rose to 8 %, corresponding to an estimated 40 million of energy poor people, according to the EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC)[1]. Energy poverty can lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbate climate change, as households may resort to using fossil fuels or inefficient energy sources to meet their energy needs. Furthermore, energy poverty can also have a negative impact on people’s health, their social inclusion and economic development.

Our Community Tailored Actions for Energy Poverty Mitigation, or ComAct [2], project, funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program, targets energy-poor people in five pilot countries: Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, North Macedonia and Ukraine. A survey of over 1,000 people across those five countries conducted under ComAct project  in 2021 found that 37% of respondents above 60 years old spend more than 15% of their income on energy, more than 34% are unable to keep their homes warm and almost 54% are unable to keep their homes cool. These results offer an insightful glimpse into the problems and challenging conditions faced by people in multi-family apartment buildings in Central and Eastern Europe and correspond to the findings of the EU-SILC survey, which also shows how energy poverty disproportionately affects low-income households. Over 34% of households in the lowest income quintile reported that they cannot afford to keep their homes warm, compared to 3,4% of households in the highest income quintile with over 42% of households citing high energy cost as the main reason. Moreover, the survey revealed that the prevalence of energy poverty varies greatly depending on the type of dwelling. People living in buildings with poor thermal insulation and inefficient heating systems were more likely to experience energy poverty than those living in energy efficient buildings. All of these findings highlight the importance of efforts and interventions that promote energy efficiency to reduce energy poverty, which is a significant barrier to sustainability.

The importance of energy efficiency is well recognized by the EU, which placed the EU-wide energy poverty definition into the new Energy Efficiency Directive for the first time, showing that energy efficient interventions are the way to reduce energy poverty and signalling the need for addressing it.

The European Union has set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions with the ultimate aim of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. More specifically, as part of the EU’s overall goal to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% and increase the share of renewable energy in the EU’s energy mix to at least 32% by 2030.

Since buildings are responsible for a significant amount of energy consumption in the EU, accounting for 40% of the EU’s final energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the energy performance of new buildings, improving energy efficiency of existing buildings and decreasing household’s energy poverty is, therefore, essential to achieving the EU’s climate and energy objectives.

[1] prediction based on the information from a presentation from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (April, 2023)

[2] The ComAct project, coordinated by Habitat for Humanity, Europe and the Middle East area office, aims to make impactful energy-efficient improvements in multi-family apartment buildings affordable and manageable for energy-poor communities as well as to create the necessary assistance conditions for lifting them out of energy poverty. The project includes ten partners: MRI, IWO, LCA, ENEFFECT, BURGAS, OHU, Habitat for Humanity Macedonia, ENOVA, Habitat for Humanity Europe and the Middle East.

Nada welcomes us with a smile on a cold April morning in her small house located in the narrow streets of Shuto Orizari, the only Roma municipality in Europe.

“We are no longer afraid of the cold. Our children are sleeping in a warm and dry place for the first time in their lives.

“We are grateful that Habitat turned our little house into a warm home, that you helped us legalize it and be our own,” shares Nada, currently unemployed.

She is the mother of a twelve-year-old girl, who goes to a local primary school, and an eight-year-old boy, who has to stay home due to his health condition and frequent hospital treatments.

“My husband, our two children and I, we all used to live in about twenty square meters: one room without insulation, with a cold concrete floor, and an unfinished bathroom. It was difficult for me to maintain hygiene, it was impossible to clean, I washed the dishes at the tap outside. It was cold.

“My son’s health condition requires constant care, daily inhalations, hygiene and warmth. Being part of Habitat Macedonia’s project, at first for the legalization of our home, and then for its refurbishment, gave us hope that we can raise our children in decent conditions.

“I can see the children’s health improving, hygiene is now as it should be, we have an adequate toilet and kitchen, and a space to sleep peacefully.”

Before the intervention, their small house had bare walls, no flooring, no plumbing in the kitchen and an unfinished toilet. Thanks to the renovation works, their living conditions have improved, and they can now enjoy a healthy home.

Hers is one of the 12 substandard homes undergoing refurbishment within the project ‘Sustainable Urban Development of Roma Communities’. A joint initiative of Habitat for Humanity Macedonia and the municipalities of Shuto Orizari and Veles, financed by the European Union.

Nada’s family shares the same problems as 60-70% of the estimated 50,000 Roma living in Macedonia – often recipients of social assistance. Lacking a stable income, they often live in substandard, illegal housing, without access to proper sanitation.

Over half of Roma families experience housing deprivation across the European Union, according to the EU Roma Survey from 20221. More than 70% of young Roma still leave school early, and Roma continue to have a much lower life expectancy than the general population.

Habitat Macedonia has been working for almost two decades on improving the housing conditions of the Roma population through various programs.

We focus our efforts on empowered participation, secure tenure, access to reliable and sustainable basic services as well as the eradication of energy poverty. On International Romani Day, let us remember that urbanization and improvement of living conditions is the basis for the social inclusion of Roma in the community, enrolment in education and improved health.

Enida, 30, was born just before the outbreak of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She grew up in a one-room household on a hilltop of Baščaršija, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Sarajevo, with her brother and parents. For 23 years, the family occupied a 25 square meter space with one window and no dedicated bathroom nor kitchen. In 2017, the family gained rights to a small plot of land and slowly started building a home.