Implications of energy poverty and climate change in Italian regions

Abstract

Energy poverty is one of the main challenges that governments must address. This aspect acquires great relevance if it is combined with the expected climatic evolution trends. These climatic changes can have a major impact in countries with a significant variety of climates, such as Italy. For this reason, in this study, an analysis of the risk of energy poverty disaggregated by the regions of Italy with different climate change scenarios was carried out. For this, statistical data available from the different regions were used, and the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) climate change scenarios were considered. The analysis found that the Lombardy region could be one of the regions most affected by energy poverty. This aspect is due to the combination of factors such as the old building stock, energy demand, and the remarkable presence of vulnerable families, which causes a higher risk in the region compared to other Italian regions. On the other side, the study revealed an important risk of energy poverty in the Southern regions, which are characterized by the lowest incomes of the country and are particularly affected by the change in cooling degree days in future scenarios.