Energ’Ethic - Climate Justice and Energy Transition

EUSEW turns 20. To mark it, Marine Cornelis sits down at the European Sustainable Energy Week with three people who have spent two decades inside EU energy policy: Thomas Nowak (heat pumps and buildings), Dušan Jakovljević (industrial energy efficiency) and Heike Winkler (offshore wind and the North Sea). The conversation treats EUSEW as a mirror. What it foregrounds, and what it sidelines, tracks...

You have more energy rights than you think, and the EU's Unlock Your Power campaign wants you to start using them. Most of us never think about our energy rights until a bill stops adding up or a supplier gets something wrong. That is the day those rights are tested in real life, and the day you find out whether they mean anything at all. Recorded live on launch day at EU Sustainable Energy Week,...

Two years ago at EUSEW 2024, I called my vox pop episode "the dog who caught the bus." After years of running hard to define the European Green Deal, the EU had finally caught what it was chasing, and seemed unsure what to do next. I ended that episode saying it was time for extra communication efforts, starting with uncomfortable conversations. Two years on, this episode asks the same question fr...

The EU's energy transition contains clear legal obligations to prioritise vulnerable households. The EPBD requires financial incentives to target energy-poor households first. The Energy Efficiency Directive requires member states to make the best possible use of public funding for low-income consumers. And yet without binding targeting requirements, public money flows to middle-income and affluen...

Energy poverty didn't exist as a concept in Spain when Marta García París first encountered it. Today, Ecoserveis runs one of the most cited local intervention models in Europe — built not on technical expertise alone, but on the conviction that citizens are the experts, and institutions exist to translate that expertise into action. This episode, originally released in 2021, marks the beginning o...

Adrian Hiel set himself a goal in 2015: to fully electrify his own life. Ten years, a cargo bike, a fully insulated house he couldn't afford to put a heat pump in, and a 50,000-euro loan later — he's nearly there. He is also the first Director the Electrification Alliance has ever appointed, leading a coalition of ten European industry and advocacy organisations pushing for 35% electrification of...

Half of European households live in flats or rented homes. For a decade, the clean energy transition has passed them by — smart tariffs assume an EV, rooftop solar assumes a roof, home batteries assume a wall you can drill into. Ashley Grealish has spent his career on exactly this structural gap: first at Bboxx, building pay-as-you-go solar for half a million homes in rural East Africa; then at ev...

The EU's flexibility agenda promises to empower consumers. Demand-side response, dynamic tariffs, smart meters — the idea is that households can take control of their energy use and benefit from the transition. The evidence is less tidy. Vulnerable households are often willing to engage. What stops them is not reluctance — it is the architecture of their daily lives: caring responsibilities, healt...

Women are already the primary decision-makers in household renovation and low-carbon upgrades. They manage timelines, handle budgets, research materials, anticipate health impacts, and carry the cognitive load of the entire process. The retrofit system, however, is not designed around them. In this episode, Marine Cornelis speaks with Ellora Coupe, founder of Her Own Space, about the structural ga...

I installed balcony solar panels at home. They work. They reduce my electricity bill. They also revealed something structural. Solar is technically simple. Scaling it is not. In Vilnius, I explored what happens when decentralised energy meets multi-apartment governance. In Central and Eastern Europe, 60% of people live in multi-family buildings. These buildings concentrate energy poverty, fragment...

The Modernisation Fund is often treated as a technical financing tool. In reality, it is one of the most structural instruments in EU climate policy. In this episode, Marine Cornelis speaks with Morgan Henley, campaigner at CEE Bankwatch, about how the Modernisation Fund shapes energy systems in Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on concrete examples from district heating, the conversation shows...

Europe has set ambitious targets for clean heating. Heat pumps are central to that strategy. Yet deployment continues to slow, especially in multi-apartment buildings and social housing. In this episode, Marine Cornelis explores why. Joined by Vladimir Gjorgievski and Louise Meister , the conversation moves beyond technology to examine how clean heating actually works in real buildings. Drawing on...

Why does the energy sector keep trying to explain, rather than designing better ? In this episode of Energ’Ethic , Marine Cornelis speaks with Sean Layerle , Managing Partner at Baalbek Insights , about a stubborn reflex in the energy transition: the belief that low adoption can be fixed by better explanations. With 14 years in Silicon Valley and experience across five continents, Sean has worked...

Cities are on the front line of the energy transition . They are also where energy poverty is most visible. In this episode of Energ’Ethic , Marine Cornelis talks with Dr Eduardo Blanco from Energy Cities , coordinator of the POWER UP project. The episode covers: Social energy players and new local business models Municipal leadership and public risk-taking Neighbourhood-scale solutions Concrete l...

This episode is a departure — in the best possible way. Instead of an interview, Energ' Ethic host Marine Cornelis takes listeners inside the speech she delivered in Besançon for the French Day against Energy Poverty. A space filled with people who meet energy vulnerability every day: social workers, housing professionals, energy advisers, local officials. People who understand the transition not...

Erman Erogan, Policy and Campaign Officer at CAN Europe, joins Energ’Ethic to discuss the Build Better Lives campaign and Europe’s race to deliver affordable, energy-efficient homes. Europe’s homes tell a story — one of rising bills, cold rooms, and missed opportunities for fairness and comfort. But a new chapter is being written. The EU is reshaping its housing future through the Affordable Housi...

Europe knows it must move fast on renewables and grid infrastructure. But speed without fairness only builds friction. In this episode, Marine Cornelis speaks with Arthur Hinsch , Senior Expert at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability , about the Fast and Fair Renewables & Grids Initiative — a first-of-its-kind European consensus on how to scale up solar, wind, and grid projects while e...

Special episode recorded live at the ACCE closing event What if the most powerful technology for the energy transition wasn’t digital, but human? In this Energ’Ethic special, recorded live in Brussels, Marine Cornelis brings together the voices behind Access to Capital for Community Energy (ACCE) — a project that helped citizens across Europe finance their own energy future. From Romania to Belgiu...

This week on Energ’Ethic, we bring back a conversation worth hearing again. Stan d’Herbemont of REScoop.eu explains why citizen energy projects still face a “risk premium” simply because they are democratic. Ownership and participation are often misread by traditional finance as weakness instead of strength. As the ACCE project reaches its closing event on 7 October 2025 , this replay offers the c...

How do we move community energy from “too risky” for banks to a serious part of Europe’s clean energy future? In this episode, Marine Cornelis speaks with Chris Vrettos ( REScoop.eu & Electra Energy) about the ACCE project , which is closing with its final event on 7 October . Key takeaways Community Energy Financing Schemes (CEFS): tools built by and for communities that make projects bankabl...

with Junior Mbangala, researcher at Oxford and policy analyst at the WTO What if the energy transition was less about infrastructure—and more about invisible connections ? In this episode, Junior Mbangala introduces a quietly radical idea: the rhizome . Borrowed from philosophy, this root-like, messy, decentralised structure becomes a powerful lens to rethink energy systems. Not as neat grids or m...

What if the key to a sustainable future lies in the hands of the most vulnerable? Join host Marine Cornelis in this enlightening episode of Energ’Ethic - Climate Justice and Energy Transition , as she sits down with William Brent, a passionate climate solution advocate and entrepreneur, whose journey from media and entertainment to championing energy justice is nothing short of inspiring. Driven b...

How can we ensure that the journey towards a sustainable future is inclusive for all? Join host Marine Cornelis as she delves into the heart of climate justice and the energy transition with Monica Vidal, a passionate advocate whose journey from environmental science student to leader at Can Europe is truly inspiring. In this enlightening episode of Energ’Ethic - Climate Justice and Energy Transit...

What if the path to a sustainable future hinged not only on innovation but also on inclusivity? In this enlightening episode of Energ’Ethic, host Marine Cornelis reunites with Louise Sutherland, a prominent voice in Europe’s energy transition and managing principal at WRAP. Together, they delve into the EU's Fit for 55 framework, a pivotal step towards achieving ambitious climate targets. Louise s...

What ignites a lifelong passion for climate justice and energy transition? For Shana Gallagher, it was the haunting beauty of the ocean and the stark realization of how human actions can devastate marine ecosystems. Join host Marine Cornelis as she delves into the inspiring journey of Shana, the Dynamic Net Zero Engagement Manager at the British Standards Institution (BSI). Shana's transformation...