The intersection of fuel and transport policy in Scotland: A review of policy, definitions and metrics

TY - JOUR

T1 - The intersection of fuel and transport policy in Scotland

T2 - A review of policy, definitions and metrics

AU - Boyd, Keran Sarah

AU - Calvillo, Christian

AU - Mueller, Tanja

AU - Mu, Xiaoyi

AU - Zhu, Tong

N1 - © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This research work was funded by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute (SUII).

PY - 2023/6/27

Y1 - 2023/6/27

N2 - This paper is a literature review of fuel and transport poverty in the U.K. with a focus on contextualising this challenge in Scotland. Building on the discussion in the literature, we see that the objective of policy interventions should be to provide a mechanism for identifying vulnerable households. First, we analyse the definitions of fuel, energy, and transport poverty and observe that definitions in policy have been used to limit the scope of the issue to make it more easily addressable. In contrast, academic research points out that fuel poverty should not only encompass all energy use, including household heating, but that transport poverty should be considered under the same umbrella as the drivers overlap. We then consider the indicators used to measure fuel and transport poverty, finding that the thresholds set are arbitrary and only measure one of many possible drivers, namely expenditure. Through an analysis of the drivers, it is clear that both fuel and transport poverty are complex multidimensional challenges requiring a combination of indicators to allow the policy to accurately identify vulnerable households.

AB - This paper is a literature review of fuel and transport poverty in the U.K. with a focus on contextualising this challenge in Scotland. Building on the discussion in the literature, we see that the objective of policy interventions should be to provide a mechanism for identifying vulnerable households. First, we analyse the definitions of fuel, energy, and transport poverty and observe that definitions in policy have been used to limit the scope of the issue to make it more easily addressable. In contrast, academic research points out that fuel poverty should not only encompass all energy use, including household heating, but that transport poverty should be considered under the same umbrella as the drivers overlap. We then consider the indicators used to measure fuel and transport poverty, finding that the thresholds set are arbitrary and only measure one of many possible drivers, namely expenditure. Through an analysis of the drivers, it is clear that both fuel and transport poverty are complex multidimensional challenges requiring a combination of indicators to allow the policy to accurately identify vulnerable households.

KW - fuel poverty

KW - transport poverty

KW - just transition

KW - energy policy

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85164769604

U2 - 10.3390/en16134978

DO - 10.3390/en16134978

M3 - Review article

SN - 1996-1073

VL - 16

JO - Energies

JF - Energies

IS - 13

M1 - 4978

ER -