The HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences organized the WISE project - Women for Solidarity in Energy workshop and the OTKA research event "Hungary in the energy crisis: from energy poverty to energy scarcity" on the 17th of October 2024 at the Human Research House in Budapest.
WISE aims to raise awareness of energy inequality, increase the knowledge of low-income single women, single mothers, and retired women on the topic, and empower them to participate in the development of policies to address current energy inequality. WISE develops and disseminates content on energy policy, energy efficiency, and fundamental rights related to energy consumption. A parallel OTKA research project is looking at the Hungarian response to the energy crisis from 2021-2022 onwards. The research focuses on the lived experiences of public and commercial sector workers who have experienced temperatures that are too cold or too hot at work.
Prolonged exposure to crises, COVID-19, the climate crisis, and the energy crisis due to rising prices since 2021-2022, are affecting access to energy services for individuals. Women, especially women living in rural areas, retired women, Roma women, migrant women, and single mothers, are more vulnerable to energy and transport poverty, partly due to their lower average income. In Hungary, the utility program changed during the energy crisis, and since the share of energy poverty has increased. Not only households but also the public and private sectors are affected, with large users such as universities and hospitals having to cut heating and cooling. Record heat waves in the summer of 2024 have drawn attention to summer energy poverty.
The workshop brought together 15 actors working on energy poverty, gender, migration, and social and environmental inequalities in Hungary. After the presentation of the project, the participants discussed in groups how women are affected by the energy crisis in terms of the inability to heat and cool their homes as well as cover housing and public transport costs. They also discussed the key injustices found in energy and gender/family policies that adversely affect women’s access to essential services.
Energy affordability in Hungary has deteriorated since the start of the energy crisis. From a point of view of family policies, shelters for mothers and survivors of domestic violence funded by municipalities have faced increased energy costs as a result of the change in the utility reduction program. Furthermore, women living in small distant locations face more difficulties in accessing shelters and other types of support. From the energy policy viewpoint, the lack of deep renovation and the lack of social housing prevents the alleviation of energy poverty. While summer energy poverty is a novelty in Hungary with the recent heat waves, it’s also an opportunity to use renewables. Among different types of women, single elderly women are the most affected by energy poverty. From the point of view of transport policies, there are big social inequalities in accessing transport services across Hungary. Car use is often gendered, as when a family has one car, it is usually driven by the man. Finally, while there is a discussion about different types of ‘poverty’, such as energy, transport, or summer, the focus should be on accessing the entire package of essential services.
The project is funded by the European Union through the CERV program, under project 101147937, and co-funded by the European Climate Foundation. Focus Slovenia, and the National Research, Development, and Innovation Office under the project PD_23 OTKA 145881 also co-funded this event. Stojilovska Ana and Szabó Sára organized the event.
