Until recently, EU and national level approaches towards ensuring a just transition under the Green Deal have remained scattered and reactive. Energy poverty, a situation in which households lack access to essential energy services like heating and cooling, can have major detrimental effects on people’s welfare and wellbeing. To deliver on the Green Deal’s promise to ‘leave no one behind’ on the road towards net-zero emissions, the Fit for 55 legislative Package aims to raise those social ambitions even further. It is now paramount to ensure social acceptance of the clean energy transition.

Unfortunately, the proposal to extend the Emissions Trading System (ETS) to buildings, using the Social Climate Fund (SCF) to buffer its social impact, reaffirms a reactive, rather than a much needed proactive or strategic approach.

In this paper, REScoop.eu formulates both opportunities and shortcomings of the European Commission's proposed social climate fund.