Accelerating an inclusive energy transition in owner-occupied and rental housing: The sustainable governance of Utrecht Overvecht’s existing housing stock

Abstract

Sustainability has become one of the most important global issues that needs to be addressed. In the Paris agreement, 186 nations agreed to stay within 2 degrees Celsius temperature increase. Each nation has to translate this agreement to their own policies and then translate it to concrete changes. The energy transition is one of these policies. This research looked into the feasibility and the governance of an inclusive energy transition in residential housing. It combined sustainability with the complex local context by merging urban and sustainable governance.

The energy transition must be seen as a social transition, rather than a technical/financial one. With millions of households needing to change their energy supply before 2050 many of whom have not sustainability as one of their top priorities. In the end, the technical/financial side of the transition must be arranged correctly if the transition is to be successful and inclusive, and thus cannot be overlooked.

There are two approaches to the energy transition, the social approach with means attaching the transition to something residents desire, so that they are willing to pay for it. Or, the technical/financial approach, wherein the transition is arranged in a way in which it removes the burden of transitioning entirely. These two approaches deal with the social aspect of the transition differently. The interplay of these approaches in different neighbourhoods remains unclear.

In order to make sure that the sustainability is improved, an overarching goal needs to be set. However, in order to make sure that the implementation in the complex local context is feasible, owners of houses need to be involved in the process. This research presents a model wherein both the goal setting, as the local context is implemented by assigning different goals where actors can have an influence in. In the last step, the implementation is based on many actors working together. Resident initiatives may have an important role in this implementation as they may be able to tailor the policy to the local context in which they operate.