Michael Klingler, Fiona Lilith Medea de Fontana , Daniel Gerdes, Jana Plöchl, Patrick Scherhaufer, Nathalie Spittler

Decarbonizing the building sector is a key priority in the European energy transition, as it is responsible for more than a third of the EU's GHG emissions. To boost energy renovation rates and efforts to phase out fossil fuel-based heating systems, current energy policy directives tar-get in particular the promotion of energy efficiency. However, implementing technology-oriented solutions for low-carbon energy and heating transitions raises a variety of issues, bearing also the risk of exacerbating energy and housing vulnerability.
This pre-print article explores potential synergies and trade-offs between climate neutrality and social justice, advocating for deliberative democracy and participation in co-designing systemic perspectives for low-carbon policy interventions. We focus on the city of Innsbruck, where both rents and shares of installed fossil fuel-based heating systems are among the highest in Austria. Our data builds on stakeholder interviews, policy analysis, and participatory systems mapping with citizens in a deliberation panel setting. We identify several structural key conditions that increase exposure to housing and energy vulnerability in Innsbruck, particularly among tenants and low-income households in Innsbruck. From a systemic perspective, we show how sharply rising rent and energy costs not only affect the disposable household income, but also reinforce dynamics that develop within the relationship between income, stress, renunciation, and mental health. We discuss the shortcomings of a narrow focus on energy efficiency policies, which may hinder the full potential of alleviating energy poverty and lead to adverse distributional impacts on vulnerable groups. Finally, we link a range of potential leverage points for socially just policy interventions to address the challenges of housing and energy vulnerability, including measures such as the highly debated social policy of rent control.