Partners from Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Poland and Italy have launched Fight4CE, a new project to help towns and cities across Central Europe fight energy poverty. The kick-off meeting was hosted by our lead partner, the Local Energy Agency Spodnje Podravje (LEASP). Over two days, the team agreed how to work together over the next 18 months.
What is energy poverty?
It happens when people cannot afford to keep their homes warm, or cool, without harming their health and wellbeing. In 2024, around 9% of Europeans could not keep their homes adequately warm. Older people, low-income households and families in rural areas are hit hardest.
Why a Central European approach?
Energy poverty does not stop at borders, but the way we measure it does. In Hungary, a household is considered energy poor if it spends over 25% of its income on energy. In Italy, the threshold is 10%. With no shared yardstick, it is hard to see the full picture or to help neighbouring communities facing the same struggles.
What will we do?
Fight4CE builds on proven results from five earlier projects: JETforCE, I-PRODER, HERCULES-CE, MESTRI-CE and BALTICBEAT. Together, we will:
- Agree a common definition of energy poverty in Central Europe, with indicators to measure it.
- Create an online toolkit to help local authorities spot energy poverty, choose the right measures and put them into action, with citizens involved at every step.
- Set up an Energy Poverty Task Force, a network of experts ready to support anyone using the toolkit.
- Test everything in five places: Ptuj (Slovenia), Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County (Hungary), Pićan and Karlovac (Croatia), and the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot area (Poland).
Who benefits?
Local authorities will gain practical skills and tools. Citizens will benefit from fairer policies and campaigns that help them take control of their energy use. The goal is simple: no person or place in Central Europe left behind in the energy transition.
What’s next?
The first step is to agree the common definition. The partners will meet again in Gdańsk in 2027 to review the first version of the toolkit.