The National Long-Term Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty 2023-2050 aims to reduce the number of people who cannot adequately heat their homes to 1% in 20 years.
Portugal plans to end energy poverty by 2050, the main objective of the national strategy published today in the Diário da República, which estimates that it will reduce the number of people who cannot adequately heat their homes to 1% in 20 years.
The National Long-Term Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty (ELPPE) 2023-2050 “has the main goal of eradicating energy poverty in Portugal by 2050, protecting vulnerable consumers and actively integrating them into the energy and climate transition, which is intended to be fair, democratic and cohesive,” reads the Council of Ministers’ resolution.
It explains that, to this end, ELPPE will be based on four strategic lines of action, including the promotion of energy and environmental sustainability in housing, universal access to essential energy services, integrated territorial action and knowledge and informed action.
Within 20 years, i.e. between 2030 and 2050, the strategy is supposed to make it possible to reduce the number of people living in households without the capacity to keep their homes adequately heated by 1%, with the estimate being that this percentage will be 10% in 2030 and 5% in 2040.
On the other hand, the population living in homes that are not cool during the summer is expected to be 20% in 2030, rising to a target of 10% in 2040 and falling to 5% in 2050.
The number of people living in homes with problems of infiltration, damp or rotting elements should also fall from 20% in 2030, to 10% in 2040 and 5% in 2050.
It also aims to reduce the number of households whose energy expenditure represents more than 10% of their total income from 700,000 in 2030 to 250,000 in 2040 and zero in 2050.
The strategy also includes the creation of the National Energy Poverty Observatory, whose mission will be to monitor the evolution of energy poverty at national level, but also to define new strategic indicators or propose public policies, as well as promoting decentralized territorial action.
This observatory will be responsible for drawing up the respective action plans for combating energy poverty, which should be for 2030, 2040 and 2050, and reviewed every three years.
The observatory should also promote decentralized territorial action in a network with the Energy Citizen Spaces, or implement training actions for national, regional and local public and private agents involved in implementing the strategy.
It must also identify, characterize and monitor households in a situation of energy poverty, in collaboration with INE, or develop campaigns to increase energy literacy appropriate to the profile of households in a situation of energy poverty.
The composition and operation of the observatory will be determined by the member of the government responsible for energy and the first action plan must be presented within 30 days.