Editing IPCC:AR6/WGIII/Chapter-9 (section)

=== 9.8.4 Social Wellbeing ===

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==== 9.8.4.1 Energy/Fuel Poverty Alleviation ====

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In 2018 almost 0.79 billion people in developing countries did not have access to electricity, while approximately 2.8 billion people relied on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking ( [[#IEA--2020a|IEA 2020a]] ). Only in sub-Saharan Africa, about 548 million people (i.e., more than 50% of the population) live without electricity. In developed economies, the EU Energy Poverty Observatory estimated that in EU-28 44.5 million people were unable to keep their homes warm in 2016, 41.5 million had arrears on their utility bills the same year, 16.3% of households faced disproportionately high energy expenditure in 2010, and 19.2% of households reported being uncomfortably hot during summer in 2012 ( [[#Thomson--2018|Thomson and Bouzarovski 2018]] ). [[#Okushima--2016|Okushima (2016)]] , using the ‘expenditure approach’, estimated that fuel poverty rates in Japan reached 8.4% in 2013. In the US, in 2015, 17 million households (14.4% of the total) received an energy disconnect/delivery stop notice and 25 million households (21.2% of the total) had to forgo food and medicine to pay energy bills ( [[#Bednar--2020|Bednar and Reames 2020]] ).

The implementation of well-designed climate mitigation measures in buildings can help to reduce energy/fuel poverty and improve living conditions with significant benefits for health ( [[#9.8.2|Section 9.8.2]] ) and well-being ( [[#Payne--2015|Payne et al. 2015]] ; [[#Smith--2016|Smith et al. 2016]] ; [[#Tonn--2018|Tonn et al. 2018]] ). The social implications of energy poverty alleviation for the people in low- and middle-income developing countries with no access to clean energy fuels are further discussed in [[#9.8.4.2|Section 9.8.4.2]] . In other developing countries and in developed economies as well, the implementation of mitigation measures can improve the ability of households to affordably heat/cool a larger area of the home, thus increasing the space available to a family and providing more private and comfortable spaces for several activities like homework ( [[#Payne--2015|Payne et al. 2015]] ). By reducing energy expenditures and making energy bills more affordable for households, a ‘heat or eat’ dilemma can be avoided resulting in better nutrition and reductions in the number of low birthweight babies ( [[#Payne--2015|Payne et al. 2015]] ; [[#Tonn--2018|Tonn et al. 2018]] ). Also, renovated buildings and the resulting better indoor conditions, can enable residents to avoid social isolation, improve social cohesion, lower crime, and so on ( [[#Payne--2015|Payne et al. 2015]] ). The [[#European%20Commission--2016|European Commission (2016)]] found that under an ambitious recast of Energy Performance Buildings Directive (EPBD), the number of households that may be lifted from fuel poverty across the EU lies between 5.17 and 8.26 million. To capture these benefits, mitigation policies and particularly energy renovation programmes should target the most vulnerable among the energy-poor households, which very often are ignored by the policy makers. In this context, it is recognised that fuel poverty should be analysed as a multidimensional social problem ( [[#Thomson--2017b|Thomson et al. 2017b]] ; [[#Baker--2018|Baker et al. 2018]] ; [[#Charlier--2019|Charlier and Legendre 2019]] ; [[#Mashhoodi--2019|Mashhoodi et al. 2019]] ), as it is related to energy efficiency, household composition, age and health status of its members, social conditions (single parent families, existence of unemployed and retired people, etc.), energy prices, disposable income, and so on. In addition, the geographical dimension can have a significant impact on the levels of fuel poverty and should be taken into account when formulating response policies ( [[#Besagni--2019|Besagni and Borgarello 2019]] ; [[#Mashhoodi--2019|Mashhoodi et al. 2019]] ).

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==== 9.8.4.2 Improved Access to Energy Sources, Gender Equality and Time Savings ====

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In most low- and middle-income developing countries women and children (particularly girls) spend a significant amount of their time for gathering fuels for cooking and heating ( [[#World%20Health%20Organization--2016|World Health Organization 2016]] ; [[#Rosenthal--2018|Rosenthal et al. 2018]] ). For example, in Africa more than 70% of the children living in households that primarily cook with polluting fuels spend at least 15 hours and, in some countries, more than 30 hours per week in collecting wood or water, facing significant safety risks and constraints on their available time for education and rest ( [[#World%20Health%20Organization--2016|World Health Organization 2016]] ; [[#Mehetre--2017|Mehetre et al. 2017]] ). Also, in several developing countries (e.g., in most African countries but also in India, in rural areas in Latin America and elsewhere) women spend several hours to collect fuel wood and cook, thus limiting their potential for productive activities for income generation or rest ( [[#García-Frapolli--2010|García-Frapolli et al. 2010]] ; [[#World%20Health%20Organization--2016|World Health Organization 2016]] ; [[#Mehetre--2017|Mehetre et al. 2017]] ). Expanding access to clean household energy for cooking, heating and lighting will largely help alleviate these burdens ( [[#Malla--2011|Malla et al. 2011]] ; [[#World%20Health%20Organization--2016|World Health Organization 2016]] ; [[#Lewis--2017|Lewis et al. 2017]] ; [[#Rosenthal--2018|Rosenthal et al. 2018]] ). [[#Jeuland--2018|Jeuland et al. (2018)]] found that the time savings associated with the adoption of cleaner and more fuel-efficient stoves by low-income households in developing countries are amount to USD1.3–1.9 per household per month, constituting the 23–43% of the total social benefits attributed to the promotion of clean stoves.

Electrification of remote rural areas and other regions that do not have access to electricity enables people living in poor developing countries to read, socialise, and be more productive during the evening, while it is also associated with greater school attendance by children ( [[#Torero--2015|Torero 2015]] ; [[#Rao--2016|Rao et al. 2016]] ; [[#Barnes--2018|Barnes and Samad 2018]] ). [[#Chakravorty--2014|Chakravorty et al. (2014)]] found that a grid connection can increase non-agricultural incomes of rural households in India from 9% up to 28.6% (assuming a higher quality of electricity). On the other hand, some studies clearly show that electricity consumption for connected households is extremely low, with limited penetration of electrical appliances ( [[#Cameron--2016|Cameron et al. 2016]] ; [[#Lee--2017|Lee et al. 2017]] ) and low quality of electricity ( [[#Chakravorty--2014|Chakravorty et al. 2014]] ). The implementation of appropriate policies to overcome bureaucratic red tape, low reliability, and credit constraints, is necessary for maximising the social benefits of electrification.

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