The European Union launched the ‘Fit for 55’ package of policies seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by a net 55% by 2030. This is a mid-term goal toward implementing the EU’s Green Deal to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Across all countries, the policy packages envision residential energy consumption to drop, facilitated by energy efficiency improvements and higher energy costs. Social welfare, in the form of the ‘Social Climate Fund’, may be given to those households living in energy and mobility poverty. The EU recently responded to the energy crisis brought about by Russia’s war in Ukraine with the REPowerEU, which accelerates the ambition of Fit for 55.
Measuring progress of the European Union toward the SDG7 (Affordable and clean energy), SDG11 (Sustainable cities and communities) and SDG13 (Climate action) a demonstrable perpetual weakness (spillover effects, ecological debt, insufficient progress regarding energy efficiency) in energy and climate issues is being addressed. Studies (LaBelle M. C. and Szép T. 2022; Sachs et al. 2019) show that many EU Member States were failing to improve their SDGs (with special regard to SDG7, SDG11 and SDG13) in 2019. For example, in the European Union the final energy consumption (TOE per capita) was higher in 2019 than in the prescribed 2020 targets adopted in 2012 (Eurostat, 2022). However, by 2020, Covid pushed the region further behind (LaBelle M. C. and Szép T. 2022; Szép T., Pálvölgyi T., Kármán-Tamus É. 2022). On the surface, the restrictions (curfews, promoting the home office, etc.) supported the efforts to achieve the 2020 energy and climate goals. But the longterm trends reveal that neither the European Union nor the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries were on the right track to achieve SDG7, SDG11 and SDG13 in 2019 (before the pandemic hit). The slowing progress indicates the lack of political, economic, and social commitment, conflicts of interest, and the difficulties of decentralization processes. An unjust energy transition fails to deliver on the SDGs (and 2030 energy and climate goals) and reduces the resiliency of communities, leaving them exposed to future crises.
The Sustainable energy transition research group focuses on new policies that must be implemented. The failure to improve demonstrates the overall lack of progress in decoupling economic growth from energy consumption. Energy convergence and other inequalities (especially energy poverty) are still unresolved policy issues (LaBelle M.C., Tóth G., Szép T. 2022; Szép T., Tóth G., LaBelle M. C. 2022). There is a strong direct and indirect relationship (LaBelle M. C., Tóth G., Szép T. 2022; Szép T., Tóth G., LaBelle M. C. 2022) between residential energy consumption and human well-being that refer to higher vulnerability and lower resilience. A final goal of the policy efforts to build sustainable energy systems and improve the adaptability of (energy) communities and countries, is to enhance their resiliency during periods of crisis. Energy communities represent a new approach to energy democracy and energy justice. It also includes fair pay and the creation of green jobs supporting the just transition.
Northern Hungary is one of the coal regions in transition that relies heavily on fossil fuels for energy use and greenhouse gas-intensive industries too. Beyond energy policy research, other topics are also highlighted. The research group pays particular attention to the household sector which is hit hard by the energy crisis. In 2020, the household sector (the second-largest end-use sector after transport) was responsible for 27% of final energy consumption in the European Union (Eurostat, 2022). However, in the last decade, the vast energy efficiency potential in the household sector remained largely untapped (the long-term trend (2004-2019) shows moderate progress, and movement away from the EU target can be observed in the short term between 2014-2019), impairing global efforts to mitigate climate change (LaBelle M. C. and Szép T. 2022; Sachs et al. 2019.). The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the share of household primary solid biomass use in residential renewable energy consumption was 82.5% in 2020 in the European Union (Eurostat, 2023). CEE is stuck in a traditional biomass trap, and this together with the energy stacking theory shed light on the slow progress of the energy transition in the household sector (Szép T., Pálvölgyi T., Kármán-Tamus É. 2023). Regarding household activities, heating decarbonization is the key to reducing energy poverty and increasing resilience. Smart cities and smart energy (smart appliances, smart metering) represent a new strand of research. Beyond the social and economic aspects, energy innovation and technological improvements are also needed. Our core areas are: