Aims and objectives
The ENGAGER 2017-2021 COST Action seeks to bring about transformational change in the investigation and amelioration of household-level energy poverty in Europe. It is facilitating the development of comprehensive, innovative and evidence-based policy frameworks. The significant extent of energy poverty in Europe means that ENGAGER addresses a major societal challenge that impinges on three inter-related aims:
- How can energy poverty be understood and eradicated via multidimensional research and policy?
- What are the conceptual and methodological complexities that underpin energy poverty?
- What is the best way of overcoming limited knowledge on energy poverty in Europe?
ENGAGER is addressing these aims through the following objectives:
- Creating a trans-disciplinary analytical approach for understanding the driving forces of energy poverty by integrating the state-of-the-art in energy poverty scholarship and moving beyond national definitions.
- Developing a common framework for determining the extent of energy poverty via the formulation of harmonised EU-wide indicators for measuring and monitoring energy poverty at regional, national and the COST-wide level.
- Bringing into being an active platform for European dialogues on researching and addressing energy poverty among four sets of relevant stakeholders (EU institutions, advocacy groups, think tanks, academia, business).
- Generating multiple forms of innovation by forging direct connections between research and policy on energy poverty, on the one hand, and activities in the domains of energy efficiency, welfare provision, utility regulation, and public health, on the other.