Précarité énergétique en Europe : existe-t-il une relation de Kuznets ?
Résumé
The phenomenon of fuel poverty is a problem recently identified in Europe and in
particular in Southern and Eastern European countries. This paper investigates fuel poverty
as an expression of environmental inequalities. It tests the existence of a Kuznets curve between
fuel poverty and GDP per capita in Europe. The study covers 28 European countries
from 2004 to 2017 using aggregated data from Eurostat ’ s EU-SILC survey. To proxy the level
of fuel poverty, 2 indicators are alternatively tested, the percentage of individual unable to
keep home adequately warm and a composite indicator. The results show the existence of
a non-linear U-shaped relationship between fuel poverty and per capita income and not
inverted U-shape as in the Kuznets relation. In Europe, economic development has been
an important factor in reducing energy poverty, but a per capita income threshold exists
after which economic growth no longer reduces fuel poverty. In conclusion, more future
growth will not systematically induce less fuel poverty, measures on energy efficiency and /
or measures to increase the purchasing power of households must be developed especially
at the national level to target the most vulnerable households.