1st April 2025, 16:30 - 19:00, Austrian Energy Agency, Vienna

GFSE held the bilingual event Innovative Solutions to combat Energy Poverty / Innovative Lösungen zur Bekämpfung der Energiearmut on Tuesday, 1 April 2025 at the Austrian Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria. This event addressed current critical challenges of energy poverty in two European Union countries as well as featuring examples of energy poverty in Africa.

The event featured five compelling keynotes, beginning with Mr Hannes Velik from Jugend eine Welt, speaking to the pivotal role of education in the combat of energy poverty throughout Africa. Mr Velik emphasized capacity building and continuous awareness raising as crucial elements in overcoming energy poverty. Ms Aglaë Hagg-Thun built on the topic of education, presenting the WEZIZA project in Benin. Insights from practice were gained directly through the presentation of a mobile solar PV unit, in active use in Benin, showcasing the prominent ‘pay-as-you-go’ feature.

Energy poverty not only has the consequence of limited access to electricity, but also interlinks to other vital aspects of daily life. Therefore, Ms Clemens Griesauer of Horizont3000 addressed the implications for the clean cooking sector throughout Uganda, additionally focusing on the gender perspective, as it remains common practice to utilize charcoal as the main heating source for preparing meals within the home. Furthermore, Mr Griesauer’s keynote shifted to the carbon crediting system, highlighting the distinct features of ‘contribution claim’ and ‘offsetting’ throughout the field of carbon credits. The contribution claim does not allow companies to claim that they are carbon-neutral when they buy carbon credits without undertaking carbon mitigation measures in their own operations.

Redirecting the spotlight to the European Union, Ms Anna Breuer of klimaaktiv, granted an in-depth overview of Austria’s newly established capacity building programme Soziale Energieberatung Social Energy Consultation. This programme is directed at supporting households effected by energy poverty through consultations and relies on existing networks of social advisors who are trained to become social energy advisors. Ms Dušana Dokupilová of the Slovak Academy of Sciences rounded off the keynote presentations, having been involved within the research of energy poverty in Slovakia for a tenure of over twenty years. Ms Dokupilová spoke to the indicators and differentiations of energy poverty within Slovakia and the European Union, emphasizing that the discussion on the topic has picked up in recent years. She pointed out that the definition of energy poverty is crucial to determine the number of people and households considered as energy poor. She also highlighted that, in addition to the fraction of income spent on energy, it is important to consider the amount of income left for other needs such as education, health, food and water.

A panel discussion with active inputs from the audience wrapped up the event. Moderated by GFSE President Dr. Irene Giner-Reichl, the audience and keynote speakers addressed further demand for resilience of energy sources, as well as the demand for continuing data assessment on monitoring energy poverty worldwide.

Please find the Presentations here:

Hannes Velik – Education fights Energy Poverty

Aglaë Hagg-Thun – Energy Partnership in Benin

Clemens Griesauer – Solar Pledge East Africa Program and Carbon Finance Projects throughout the Clean Cooking Sector

Anna Breuer – Social Energy Consulting in Austria (DE)

Dušana Dokupilová - Energy Poverty in Slovakia

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Agenda Innovative Solutions to combat Energy Poverty / Innovative Lösungen zur Bekämpfung der Energiearmut

Anmeldung & Einlass / Registration

16:30

 

Eröffnungsworte / Opening

17:00

 

Bildung überwindet Energiearmut / Education fights Energy Poverty 

Hannes Velik
Leitung Strategische Partnerschaften

Jugend eine Welt

 

Energiepartnerschaft in Benin / Energy Partnership in Benin

Aglaë Hagg-Thun
Vorstand

Oikocredit

 

Solar Pledge East Africa Program and Carbon Finance Projekte im Clean Cooking Sektor / Solar Pledge East Africa Program and Carbon Finance Projects throughout the Clean Cooking Sector

Clemens Griesauer

Horizont3000

 

Soziale Energieberatung in Österreich / Social Energy Consulting in Austria 

Anna Breuer

klimaaktiv

 

Energiearmut in der Slowakei / Energy Poverty in Slovakia

Dušana Dokupilová

Institute for Forecasting, Slovak Academy of Sciences

 

Coffee Break

 

Diskussionsrunde der Keynote-Speaker:innen inkl. Publikum / Panel Discussion Keynote speakers and audience

Moderiert von / Moderated by Mag. Dr. Irene Giner-Reichl
Präsidentin von GFSE

 

Closing

19:00