Zaragoza is facing a growing energy poverty crisis, with 14.7% of Aragonese residents struggling to heat their homes in winter. The situation is worsened by extreme summer heat waves. As over half of Aragon’s population lives in Zaragoza, the city is under pressure to act. As explained by Montse Hernández and Eva -María Fernandez Simon (Climate Action and Public Health Office at Zaragoza City Council), the city is initiating a diagnosis to develop an Energy Poverty Plan under the Covenant of Mayors. However, challenges such as fragmented responsibilities, lack of harmonized data, and difficulty in integrating initiatives from different departments, hinder the creation of a comprehensive and cross-sectoral strategy. To tackle those challenges and strengthen its approach, Zaragoza is exchanging knowledge and good practices with the cities of Almada, Barcelona, and Valencia.
What progress have these cities made in developing their Energy Poverty Plans? How are they approaching the creation of a cross-sectoral and inclusive strategy?
Almada is in the early stages of developing its energy poverty strategy and formed a working group to define a five-step approach for 2025-2026. According to Alexandra Castro (Head of Division, Climate and Energy Team at Almada City Council) the first key step is the definition of clear objectives and a governance structure that can establish clear roles for interdepartmental cooperation. This will be followed by 2) the identification, collection and 3) integration and analysis of relevant data, 4) the development of targeted interventions and 5) the monitoring and adjustment of policies. Similarly, in Valencia, Pilar Jorda (European Project Manager at València Clima i Energia, Valencia City Council) explained that in the process of drafting the city’s Energy Poverty Strategy (soon to the published), they organised workshops and bilateral meetings with different internal departments and external services, such as NGOs, associations and charity entities, making sure to adapt the “energy language” and related message to each service.
In Barcelona, as explained by Sergi Delgado (Technician at the Barcelona Local Energy Agency), energy poverty goals and measures are integrated into the city´s broader Climate Action Plan, which integrates a clear angle on climate justice and just transition, while aiming to reach zero energy poverty by 2030. Key measures included in the Plan are refurbishment initiatives; solar energy instalments and energy advisory points in each district.
How to gather local data and data about vulnerable people who are harder to reach?
A major challenge faced by all cities is gathering data at local level, especially when a local Statistics Office is missing. This is even harder when trying to gather information about citizens who are not reachable through the social services or not registered in the Municipality, but who likely suffer from energy poverty.
To address this challenge, the city of Valencia is building partnerships with local NGOs, including the Voluntary Manager Foundation and Caritas, to exchange information with the municipal social services, in the attempt to measure energy consumptions and to reach those groups and individuals that are out of the system. Barcelona has been relying on a network of energy advisory points and climate shelters to provide direct assistance, but also to directly work in the different neighbourhoods by communicating the benefits around the Social Bond – tackling energy poverty and promoting justice by offering a 25% discount on energy bills. Speakers from the audience also shared their experience from the city of Milan, where the Red Cross has established cooling Centers as a measure to give elderly the opportunity to receive assistance during summers but also to gather data on the impact of such centres on the life of vulnerable communities. On the same line, the city´s Urban Resilience Department has been in collaboration with C40 to conduct a Community Resilience Assessment of the Crescenzago neighborhood, using methodology developed by Z Zurich Foundation.
How can citizens and vulnerable households be involved in community energy initiatives and empowered to take control of their energy consumption?
The EnerCMed project started in Valencia in 2024 and aims to explore and test combined solutions of energy communities and nature-base solutions to tackle energy poverty. As part of the project, the city is planning to involve NGOs, local associations, schools and social services in the creation of two renewable energy communities whose energy will directly go to vulnerable households. The speakers from Zaragoza, Almada and Barcelona had some insightful tips to share for meaningful citizen engagement.
For example, Zaragoza’s Oliver Energy Community, developed in collaboration with ECODES, successfully involved 50 participants from one of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods. According to Cecilia Foronda (Head of Energy and People Department at ECODES), the key for success was to be as close as possible to people on the ground, made possible through the involvement of the main social actors in the neighbourhood (NGOs, the local church, schools) in the Board of the energy community.
Barcelona and Almada have been able to bring solar energy to a broader community, through the Sun4All project, which has involved and targeted respectively 3 public housing buildings and 126 families. More specifically, in Barcelona, the key to engaging people has been to build and keep trust, through community work and good information, but also by providing easy access to support and information. In the case of Almada they motivated people to engage by fostering regular interaction and focusing on concrete benefits for the beneficiaries, for example tailoring the trainings offered to their needs in terms of cost reduction. In addition to that, Rui Sebastian (Senior Technician, Climate and Energy Team at Almada City Council) explained the need to manage expectation considering the high likelihood of delays in the implementation of measures. To address this issue, Barcelona, as part of the Sun4All project, developed a protocol to speed up all legal procedures and not to burden citizens with excessive bureaucracy in public housing buildings.
Moving Forward
To sum up, the discussion underscored key elements essential for designing and implementing cross-sectoral and inclusive Energy Poverty Plans. Improved interdepartmental coordination plays a crucial role, as seen in Valencia, where adapting communication strategies for different services and collaborating with the statistics office has enhanced data integration and monitoring. Robust data collection and integration are necessary to track progress, refine strategies, and ensure targeted interventions for vulnerable populations. Carefully designed community energy initiatives have proven successful in fostering participation, engagement and trust. A crucial factor to foster participation across the cases discussed was the involvement of local social actors. Lastly, political commitment and support remain fundamental in driving effective policies, ensuring long-term impact.
This event was part of a series of four online Peer-to-Peer Learning sessions being held until April 2025, involving the pilots of the Adaptation AGORA project and addressing key issues related to climate adaptation and public participation. This series of events aims to foster the exchange of knowledge, resources and methodologies that can facilitate public participation in Climate Adaptation Plans in different European cities, regions and communities. Sign up to the AGORA Community Hub to get access to all the material.
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