Reacción a "Reactions to a model of energy use reduction for higher-income households"

This study published in Nature Energy is of good quality, both in terms of its methodology, time scope (2020-2050) and geographical range (27 European countries), as well as its analysis of alternative scenarios.  

The use of pan-European surveys such as the Household Budget Survey (HBS) and Exiobase 3.7 supports the validity of the conclusions in different terrritories, and will make it possible to update results every five years. In addition, the methods used to study the different emission reduction strategies are robust and the marginal analysis allows [the authors] to shed light on the effect of different household characteristics on the likelihood of high energy consumption.  

The association between [high] income and [high] energy consumption in Spain is supported by previous studies, which also point out that low-income households are more vulnerable to the phenomenon of energy under-spending due to lack of affordability, commonly called hidden energy poverty.  

The most important limitation may be the difficulty in explaining the benefits of the proposed strategies to the public. An effort to 'translate' these reductions in consumption and emissions into monetary terms, on the one hand, and in terms of well-being and comfort, on the other, could make this easier. 

On the other hand, the fact that the study includes participatory methods such as deliberative workshops is praiseworthy, and could help with the difficult task of communicating these policies to the population, although the results described in the article refer mainly to the transport and mobility sector.  

These models are necessary to estimate the impact of different consumption and/or emission reduction strategies on Member States' climate change objectives. However, it is important to be able to explain to the public the importance of these policies for the future of our society and the advantages they would bring for the domestic economy or the well-being of households. In terms of their application in Spain, there are tools and previous studies that analyse the impact of both behavioural changes and energy efficiency measures on the reduction of household energy expenditure both in the domestic sphere and in transport. The [Long-term strategy for energy rehabilitation in the building sector in Spain] ERESEE and the [Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030] PNIEC analyse the second category of measures and also measure the impact in terms of emission reductions.