Comillas Living Lab against Energy Poverty launches 2026 with strategic contributions to national and European policy

On 12 March, the Comillas Living Lab held its first 2026 session in Madrid, marking the continuation of this participatory initiative and reinforcing its role as a bridge between local action, national policymaking, and European-level knowledge exchange.

Building on the momentum achieved in 2025, the forum continues to consolidate its role as a space for collaboration and participatory innovation, contributing to EUPeace’s broader mission of fostering social cohesion and addressing societal challenges through education and community engagement.

EnerPeace is a collaborative initiative addressing energy poverty, a pressing challenge affecting millions of people globally and a significant number of households in Spain. Defined as the inability to meet basic energy needs in an affordable and adequate way, energy poverty has far-reaching impacts on health, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.

Within this framework, the Living Lab against Energy Poverty of the Chair of Energy and Poverty at Comillas Pontifical University acts as a multidisciplinary platform where affected communities, energy experts, public institutions, and civil society organisations co-design and test solutions to tackle energy poverty in Spain.

Advancing key measures: energy efficiency and social investment

The session opened with remarks by José Carlos Romero, coordinator of the Chair. Discussions then focused on two priority areas with strong national and European relevance.

Ester Sevilla, Head of Social Projects at Fundación Naturgy, presented the organisation’s work on rapid home retrofitting, highlighting agile and scalable solutions to improve the energy efficiency of vulnerable households.

Cecilia Foronda, Director of Action for a Just Ecological Transition at ECODES, introduced the Social Energy Savings Certificates (CAEs), innovative mechanisms aimed at directing investment towards populations affected by energy poverty.

The session also benefited from the participation of Jorge Hernández Villareal, representative of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), who outlined the current policy context of the National Strategy against Energy Poverty (ENPE) and the recently launched preliminary public consultations.

Co-creation methodology and alignment with national strategy

In line with its participatory approach, the forum worked on defining the 2026 Living Lab roadmap through a co-creation exercise known as the “strategic traffic light.” This methodology enabled participants to prioritise actions and align them with the pillars of the forthcoming ENPE 2026–2030.

Through this process, the Chair of Energy and Poverty reaffirmed the continued relevance and ambition of the EnerPeace project in 2026. The forum’s capacity to convene diverse stakeholders—including affected communities, energy experts, public institutions, and non-profit organisations—remains its defining strength.

Results and next steps

The outcomes of the group work were presented in a plenary session, where key conclusions and areas of consensus were identified. These results will be submitted as a joint contribution to the public consultations launched by MITECO on rapid home retrofitting and Social Energy Savings Certificates (CAEs).

In doing so, the Living Lab ensures that perspectives from the energy sector, academia, and the social sphere are effectively integrated into future policy design.

The Chair of Energy and Poverty would like to thank all participants and partner organisations for their active engagement and continued commitment to tackling energy poverty through collaborative action.