{"id":24575,"date":"2022-11-24T01:01:37","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T00:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reclaimfinance.org\/site\/?p=24575"},"modified":"2023-02-08T11:22:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T10:22:38","slug":"poll-to-get-through-winter-76-of-europeans-favour-energy-renovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reclaimfinance.org\/site\/en\/2022\/11\/24\/poll-to-get-through-winter-76-of-europeans-favour-energy-renovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey: To get through winter, 76% of Europeans favour energy renovation\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the occasion of the French energy poverty day (1), Reclaim Finance and the YouGov Institute publish the results of a survey revealing the support of 76% of Europeans for energy renovation (2). Half of Europeans fear they will have difficulties paying their energy bills or heating their home this winter. They consider that the massive renovation roll out is blocked by financial issues. To overcome these obstacles, a majority of them support the use of public subsidies, simplified aid, and interest-free loans. While these solutions require government intervention, Europeans support the intervention of the European Central Bank (ECB). Indeed, the ECB could, in particular, allow the granting of interest-free loans for renovation via green financing operations.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Half of Europeans (3) fear that they will have difficulties paying their electricity bills and\/or heating their homes this winter. This fear is present in more than 70% of households with an annual gross income of less than 15,000 euros and is more frequent in large families (4).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this tense context, 76% of respondents believe that public authorities should massively support building renovation to respond to the energy crisis and fight inflation (5). They consider the issue of financing to be the major obstacle to renovation (6): 76% of them cite the overall high cost of renovation, and 36% the cost of borrowing (7).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To overcome these obstacles, the majority of respondents support investment and public help, the simplification of aid and interest-free loans (8). Aid and loans are the levers most cited by people who say they fear difficulties this winter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Denise, advocacy officer at the Fondation Abb\u00e9 Pierre, said:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00ab\u00a0<\/span>The message is clear: housing renovation is a response to the crisis and the fears of Europeans, the main obstacle to its deployment is financial, and must be removed through the massive support of public authorities. This support should come through different levers including increased subsidies, simplification of aid and access to zero interest loans. In a word, the demands of the NGOs fighting energy poverty and championing the energy transition are widely supported by Europeans.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00bb\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The implementation of these solutions requires state intervention but can also be facilitated by the ECB, which can notably provide banks with preferential refinancing rates in exchange for zero-interest loans targeted at renovation (9). Thus, 76% of respondents agree that the ECB should support the reduction of energy consumption and the transition to renewable energies, in particular through building renovation (10).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Paul Schreiber, campaigner at Reclaim Finance, said:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>\u00ab\u00a0<\/span>Europeans are calling on the ECB to support Europe’s energy transition to respond to the crisis. But even though the central bank recently recognized the importance of this transition in managing inflation (11), its repeated rate hikes could make it more expensive to finance building renovation and renewable energy (12). The ECB must walk the talk and set up \u00ab\u00a0green\u00a0\u00bb refinancing operations. It can start by directing them toward building renovation that delivers massive social benefits as well as energy consumption cuts.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00bb\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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