Energy justice, unequal access to affordable warmth, and capability deprivation: a quantitative analysis for Belgium

This paper explores the energy justice nexus by drawing on Sen and Nussbaum’s concept of capabilities. Our contribution is to operationalize most of the ten capabilities defined by Nussbaum, and to study them for all households of a country (Belgium) in relation with their access to energy and especially to affordable warmth. We argue that the three dimensions highlighted by environmental-justice theories – income distribution, procedures producing unequal distributional outcomes, and cultural and political recognition of vulnerable and marginalised social groups – are more visible when showing the range of differences between the energy-poor households and the other types of households of a country living more or less, or not at all, in energy poverty. So a five-group typology of households is proposed that also takes into account the social aid granted in the country. This typology is then used to compare these five groups in order to know whether energy poverty is associated with other difficulties not only in terms of housing and health but also regarding other dimensions of daily life. A new simple statistical index is developed to summarise these comparisons. The approach of the energy justice nexus is thus systemic rather than causal between access to energy and potential capabilities’ deprivation. The data used is a large-scale quantitative survey that is part of the Generation and Gender Programme (GGP), and it enables to proxy most of Nussbaum’s capabilities with several questions asked in this GGP survey. As these GGP surveys are standardised and realised in 16 countries, our approach is transferable to other nations/regions as well. Results show that energy poverty in Belgium is associated with the deprivation of several capabilities, in more areas than expected: not only regarding housing, health, and mobility, but also regarding access to culture and recreational activities, as well as the feeling of fulfilment and ontological security. Furthermore, the comparison between energy-poor people and other energy-access groups makes the issue of social stigma clearer, and thus so the dimension of political recognition. In terms of policy, these results suggest to fighting energy poverty as a transversal issue