Fundamental rights and housing in the EU’s climate and energy transition
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Key findings and FRA opinions
- Integrating fundamental rights into the climate and energy transition
- Strengthening fundamental rights safeguards in designing and implementing energy renovation policies
- The lack of equal access to renovation measures impacts the right to housing
- Protecting the rights of tenants in energy renovations
- People confronted with housing deprivation are at risk of being left behind in the climate and energy transition
- Participation and stakeholder engagement in the energy transition is often a one-off exercise and is not inclusive
- Lack of transparency and information for complaint mechanisms hinder access to justice
- Need for integrated and systematic monitoring and data collection for a just climate and energy transition
- Introduction
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1. Access to energy and the right to housing in the climate and energy transition
- 1.1 International framework on access to affordable and sustainable energy
- 1.2 The link between the right to housing and sustainability
- 1.3 Energy as an essential service in the European Union’s framework
- 1.4 Energy renovations for achieving affordable and sustainable housing in the European Union
- 1.5 Conclusion
- 2. Fundamental rights in the European Union climate and energy governance
- 3. Non-discrimination and leaving no one behind in the energy transition
- 4. Participation and stakeholder engagement in the energy transition
- 5. Accountability: effective structures for fundamental-rights-compliant energy policy implementation
- Conclusions
- Annex 1 – Methodology
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- About this publication
Energy renovations are an important mitigation measure to achieve the objectives of the EU’s climate and energy transition. They also impact fundamental rights: by improving energy efficiency and incorporating clean energy technologies, these renovations make affordable and clean energy more accessible, which is crucial for people experiencing energy poverty who struggle to meet basic energy needs or face disconnections. By contributing to climate mitigation and enhancing climate resilience, such as through measures for better insulation against extreme temperatures, they also help to safeguard health and environmental rights. Energy renovations further impact the right to housing. While energy renovations can improve housing standards and contribute to adequate living conditions, they can also compromise housing affordability and drive displacement, especially for low-income individuals, tenants and vulnerable groups. The right to housing and access to clean and affordable energy are key for the effective enjoyment of many other fundamental rights, including the right to health.
Energy renovations and related measures addressing energy transition and energy poverty should be implemented in a fundamental-rights-compliant way: ensuring equal access and effective targeting of people in situations of vulnerability are key. FRA’s research shows that both the relevant EU policy framework and Member States’ efforts and investments to enhance energy efficiency in housing to reach climate targets do not integrate fundamental rights systematically. Energy renovations often inadvertently exclude people in vulnerable situations and risk exacerbating existing inequalities, including in the context of the right to adequate housing. The complexities of the programmes and the online application process were identified as a major obstacle for people in situations of vulnerability, such as older people, people with disabilities, people with a migrant background or people with lower levels of education or digital skills. Governance structures that fail to take due consideration of fundamental rights result in unfair and unintended unequal access to energy renovation measures. The report argues that the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights obliges Member States to protect all people in the EU from any form of discrimination and to ensure access to and the supply of goods and services, including energy services in the context of the climate and energy transition required by EU law.
The report proposes a human-rights-based approach to the climate and energy transition that explicitly integrates fundamental rights into EU climate and energy transition policies, including those governing energy renovations. In 2026, the European Commission will revise the EPSR action plan, develop for the first time an EU Anti-Poverty Strategy and begin implementing the European Affordable Housing Plan. These actions provide unique opportunities to integrate EU funds with social and climate change policies in a fundamental-rights-compliant manner.