Using energy vulnerability framework to understand household agency in sustainability transitions: Experiences from Canada and Finland

Abstract

Sustainability transitions research is increasingly engaged with the complexities of justice and equitability. In housing, policy lock-ins and infrastructural inequalities expose people to volatile energy markets, energy poverty and climate impacts. These problems have often been dealt with reactively, without resolving their underlying systemic and structural causes. We examine household energy vulnerabilities, their exposure and sensitivity to certain risks, and what their adaptive capacity is in navigating those. Based on qualitative case studies of social housing in Canada and housing cooperatives in Finland, we show that interconnected exposures and sensitivities to risks are contextual. This can lead to energy vulnerability, further triggered by changes in policies, energy markets and the environment. In Canada, neglected housing maintenance causes exposure, while in Finland, policy utilizing bottom-up action does not always strengthen household agency, especially for vulnerable households. We call for more empirical studies on household energy vulnerability in different contexts.