Table 4.

Assessment of climate change mitigation measures to address energy poverty in Greece and Lithuania

Source: created by authors based on (Alexandri & Androutsopoulos, 2020; Boemi et al., 2017; Boemi & Papadopoulos, 2019; Frangou et al.,2018; Manos, Bartocci, et al., 2014a; Manos, Partalidou, et al., 2014b; Papada & Kaliampakos, 2020; Santamouris et al., 2013; Kyprianou et al., 2019; ASSIST Project, 2018; European Commission 2019a, b)

Measures	Description	Eligibility criteria, introduction year	Assessment of effectiveness in GHG emission reduction	Assessment of effectiveness in energy poverty reduction	Are they shaped by addressing behavioral barriers?
Greece
Long–term energy poverty alleviation measures and policies
Financing and funding of improvements in the energy situation	Construction of electricity production projects from Renewable Energy Sources	Applications and licenses without any strategic design, often violating several environmental or cultural constraints defined in the relevant legislation	Low effect	Low effect	No
	Public–private partnerships (PPPs) for agro-energy districts in rural areas in Greece	It was also proposed an initiative to adopt a PPP scheme for a specific agro-energy district and its preparation	Positive	Positive	Yes
Energy audits	Energy audits are implemented mainly in industry sector in Greece	The list of possible measures: insulation, installation of a deaerator unit, heat recovery, automatic blow-down system and regulation of excessive air	Positive (energy savings of 5.8 GWh/year)	Positive	No
	The energy audits in hotels sector creates favorable conditions to the optimization of energy resources	A basic model of the energy flow through the hotel interface starting from fuel inputs, through eight cost centers and finally down to end-users	Positive	Positive	No
Information and awareness	Information dissemination operation of a municipal solid waste-to-energy incineration facility in the greater Thessaloniki area, Northern Greece	The incineration facilities are vividly debated mainly due to the “Not In My Back Yard” (NYMBY) syndrome in alignment with health considerations	Positive	Positive	Yes, Enhancing of public awareness and militating NYMBY syndrome by local communities was achieved
	Energy benchmarks for hotels	A method of deriving energy benchmarks to enable classification of hotels in Greece was based on operational energy use in terms of electricity and oil	Positive	Positive	Yes
	Establishment of energy benchmarks, energy rating procedures and building classification in Greece	The deployment of the method of Virtual Building Dataset (VBD) was applied to office buildings in Greece	Positive (energy savings in heating, cooling, artificial lighting, office equipment	Positive	Yes
	Energy education in linkage with renewable energy education in Greece by development of educational strategies	Greek curricula development showed the involvement of an effective approach for energy education	Possible	Possible	Yes. Energy literacy and high attitudes towards sustainability cultivated
	Energy saving campaigns in alignment with energy efficiency investments industries	Energy saving campaign should regard industries as subgroups with different needs and different managerial aspects	Positive	Positive	Yes
Short–term energy poverty alleviation measures and policies
Disconnection protection	Situation in which a household spends a small amount of money on energy, due to its inability to afford energy cost	“Degree of Coverage of Energy Needs” (DCEN) index, which was expressed as the ratio of “Actual/Required energy cost” of a household, was applied to the country side of Greece and the mountainous areas of Greece	Negative. Small proportion of 14–17% managed to adequately meet energy needs	Positive. The DCEN index showed the vital aspects of the problem	Yes. Three important behavioral patterns had been quantified: “compression of energy needs”, “satisfaction of energy needs”, and “energy wastage”
Financial assistance to reduce energy bills	Social Residential Tariff (SRT). It has been introduced to protect vulnerable groups (Decision No. D5-EL/Β/Phi29/16,027/6.8.10)	National-wide measure. Applied to anyone who meets the criteria for: A) the Social Solidarity Payment B) Their actual or deemed total annual income C) If households include individuals who are 67% disabled D) If households include persons requiring mechanical support from medical devices etc	Negative. The rebound effect causing an increase of energy consumption	Yes, short term effect	No
Lithuania
Long–term energy poverty alleviation measures and policies
Financing and funding of improvements in the energy situation	Support of investments in installation of RES in residential sector from Special Programme for Climate Change fund	In 2011 Modernisation programme for promotion of RES in residential buildings In 2012 for buildings constructed prior to 1993 In 2013 for residential RES installations and self-consumption In 2014–2016 introduction of grant limits covering up to 30% of investment and in 2017up to 25% of investments	Positive	Positive long-term impact	Yes
	Soft loans with fixed 3% interest rate for promotion of energy efficiency and use of RES in residential buildings from Multi-apartment Buildings Renovation Programme financed by Special Programme for Climate Change Grant (up to 100%) for vulnerable consumers	In 1996–2004 from WB project. In 2005–2010 from Multi-apartment Buildings Renovation Programme. Eligible just buildings constructed prior to 1993. In 2010–2020 from Multi-apartment Buildings Renovation Programme through JESSICA, only for buildings constructed prior to 1993	Positive	Positive long-term impact	Yes
	Promotion of renewables by Feed-in tariff for Photovoltaics in residential houses	In 2012 Feed-in tariff for solar PV up to 30 KW -0.42 €/KWh. In 2013-Feed-in tariff for solar PV up to 10 KW decreased to 0.16 EUR €/KWh, feed-in tariff only for surplus electricity within of 70 MW Solar PV	Positive	Positive long-term impact	Yes
	Promotion of prosumers of renewable energy sources based on Lithuanian legal acts allows the flexibility of net-metering in case the prosumer can produce electricity in summer to store it in the electrical grids, and very effectively use it for the heating in winter. It such case the multifamily building can become zero–emission one	In 2015 promotion of prosumers’PV up to10 KW, except public buildings up to 50 KW In 2017 prosumers’of PV, wind, biomass up to10 KW (natural persons) and up to100 KW (legal persons) In 2018 four types of net metering for prosumers (natural and legal persons) of PV, wind, and biomass installations	Positive	Positive long-term impact	Yes
Short–term energy poverty alleviation measures and policies
Disconnection protection	Protection of vulnerable consumers from electricity disconnection in critical times first established in 2000	National-wide measure. In 2000 it was covering limited groups of vulnerable consumers. In 2009 revised and more groups of vulnerable consumers were included and still valid	Negative impact	Some short-term effect on poverty alleviation	No. Negative impact
Social support	Social benefit is payable to those whose income falls below the national threshold (EUR 122)	National-wide measure established since 1990. Social benefit is payable where the income of household is less than the State Supported Income. Social benefit for a single person amounts to 100% of the difference between the State-supported income (EUR 122) and the average monthly income of a single person	Negative impact	Some short-term effect on poverty alleviation	No. Negative impact
Financial assistance to reduce energy bills	Reduced VAT rate (at 9%), to residential district heating	National-wide measure. Applied just for district heating and for all households. In 2001 Reduced VAT rate (at 9%), temporary measure (extended annually) In 2017 VAT of 9% and became a permanent measure	Negative impact as it is environmentally-harmful energy subsidy	Some short-term effect on poverty alleviation	No. Negative impact on behavioural change
	Compensations on heating, cold and hot water costs for households with low income	Valid since 2012. Mixed model of funding applied: from state and municipalities budgets. In 2015 all funding for heating, cold and hot water compensation on municipality level. Since 2017 the funding is applied if heating costs exceed 10% of income	Negative impact as it is environmentally-harmful energy subsidy	Some short-term effect on poverty alleviation	No. Negative impact on behavioural change