Pereira Urias was already interested in social themes, such as inequality and poverty, during his youth in Brazil. After studying economics and science and technology policy, he came to the Netherlands to do PhD research on access to medicine. ‘This inspired me to look at sustainability, and in particular at the question of how to shape the energy transition in a fair way,’ says Pereira Urias.
‘It is often said that we should not leave anyone behind in the energy transition. But I want to see how we can include people who have already been left behind, in a way that they can also benefit from.’
Not the same language
As a representative of the Athena Institute and the Community Service Learning team, Pereira Urias is part of the Knowledge Alliance Nieuw-West. In this alliance, the municipality, VU, HvA and VoorUit work together with residents and organizations from the neighborhoods to make the city district more sustainable. When gas prices started to rise in 2021, participants decided that the focus of the alliance should be on energy.
‘After a few meetings, I realized that researchers, including myself, and residents did not speak the same language. Although the residents were interested in sustainability, their priority was energy poverty. And technical solutions such as solar panels and heat pumps are not interesting if you rent a home.’
He also noticed that sustainability was viewed as something that was imposed by the government. And many residents had bad experiences with that, for example because of the childcare benefits affair. ‘When the municipality wanted to compensate low-income households for high energy prices, some residents in Nieuw-West did not want to accept the money. Because how did they know that they would not have to pay it back later?’
Energy saving service
Despite all good intentions, initiatives around the energy transition do not sufficiently connect with the experience of people in Nieuw-West or Zuid-Oost. Pereia Urias: ‘The energy transition must be part of a broader story about well-being. You also have to really involve residents, and not invite people to the table only when important decisions have already been made.’ He sees an opportunity for social energy cooperatives, where citizens own their own energy. ‘But it still requires a lot of work to shape this in an inclusive way.’
A concrete initiative that works according to Pereira Urias is the energy saving service of the municipality of Amsterdam. Energy coaches go door to door and, if the residents agree, implement quick measures to better insulate the house. Why does it work? ‘Because it is not top-down. This initiative originally came from social organizations that are embedded in the neighborhood, in response to the energy crisis.’
