Governing the energy market between universal access to energy and sustainable development

This contribution deals with the issue of energy access and energy poverty. Energy poverty is not only a phenomenon affecting many people in developing countries but there are also sizeable pockets of energy poverty in developed countries and in liberalized markets. Focusing on innovative standards energy poverty is defined as a multidimensional notion and in developing areas a “service-oriented issue”. However also in advanced countries the energy poor and vulnerable consumers have increased. Energy affordability problems have been exacerbated by the financial crisis. A key question is how to fight it. Hence the reciprocal influence between sustainable development and energy policies and the effective contribution that decentralized and renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency policies can give will be highlighted. The concluding remarks will underline that the attempt to enhance energy access within national and international energy policies requests a new design for the governance focusing on polycentrism and the involvement and thorough cooperation of multiple actors and stakeholders.