26/06/2025 Session
Ensuring clean, safe and affordable energy is not only central to addressing climate change and pollution but is also a matter of human rights of present and future generations, PACE has said. Transition to more sustainable energy systems is “essential to securing Europe’s continued prosperity,” the Assembly stressed.
Adopting a resolution based on the report by Saskia Kluit (Netherlands, SOC), the Assembly called for a human rights-based approach to the energy transition, warning that energy poverty continues to affect millions of Europeans. It emphasised the need for “stable long-term policies” to enable a fair shift to renewable sources and to secure access to energy as a condition for the enjoyment of fundamental social rights such as housing, health, work, protection from poverty, and education, notably for the vulnerable population.
The resolution urges states to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, scale up investment in solar, wind and smart grids, and support local initiatives for clean energy production, as well as sustainable mobility and more energy efficient buildings. It highlights the importance of empowering citizens, especially at municipal level, and fostering cooperation across borders to strengthen energy resilience and supply stability.
In a series of recommendations, PACE also calls on governments to protect vulnerable people from energy poverty through price caps, income support and renovation grants, and to ensure that workers can transition to green jobs. National energy transition strategies, the Assembly concluded, must be “socially fair”, economically viable and environmentally sound.